“FOR THE HEART, YES. BUT ALSO, FOR THE SPIRIT”: MOMENTO FEMININO AND THE FEMINIST DEBATE IN REPUBLICAN BRAZIL (1947-1956)

Abstract

This essay analyzes the feminist debate fostered by the newspaper Momento Feminino (MF), highlighting the consensus and internal disputes, as well as the challenges faced by its columnists within a context marked by both anti-communism and antifeminism sentiment. Linked to the Communist Party of Brazil (PCB) and the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), the paper was edited in Rio de Janeiro and circulated in Brazil between 1947 and 1956. Its pages gave life to a debate, at the time, dear to the PCB, besides discussing the social structures that left subjected women into a status of inferiority and vulnerability. MF not only advocated women’s participation in political and social life, but also politicized everyday life, committing to a feminist project of society, turning the newspaper into an important tool for understanding the history of feminism in Brazil.

Keywords
Momento feminino; feminism; communism; women; politics