Gender, as an ambitioning category of analysis which permeates a wide range of historical narratives, has come through a rather varied path in Brazil and in other Southern Cone countries in comparison to the North-American and French historiographies. While having been associated to instrumental practices by NGOs, and to institutionalization by the democratic governments which have been implemented in the Southern Cone after the end of their respective dictatorships, gender as a category has been often seen as something distant from feminism and women's history. Its use is reflected on political disputes in both academic and militant fields. This article intends to discuss criticism, and the way in which this category has been used in History textbooks in Brazil and other Southern Cone countries.
gender; feminism; History; Brasil; Southern Cone.