Brazil appears in 51st place in the report, “The Power of Women, an Evaluation of Global Gender Inequalities,” which assesses gender inequalities in 58 countries.
The study, published by the World Economic Forum, was be presented today in Brasília, in the presence of the Minister of the Special Secretariat of Policies for Women, Nilcéa Freire.
According to the Minister, Brazil occupies this position chiefly as a result of situations of violence against women and inequalities in the job market. Sweden is first in the ranking, and Egypt, last.
“We hope that, with the implementation of the National Plan of Policies for Women, we will be taking a decisive step for the country to get out of this position, which is, at the very least, I would say, embarrassing for us,” Freire commented in an interview with Radiobrás.
The Minister said that the conclusions of the report didn’t surprise her. “The situation of inequality between men and women in the country is well-known, which is why we exist. It was this comprehension of the dimension of the inequality that led President Lula, attuned to the concerns of women and the social movements, to create the Secretariat.”
In Freire’s view, to change this situation, “government action is necessary not only in the sense of formulating and implementing policies that enable women to gain greater autonomy and equal opportunities, but also to allow women to dispute this space in society, in a solidary but also very combative way, because no government will do away with historically based machismo,” the Minister pointed out.
ABr – www.radiobras.gov.br