Black women’s participation in the municipal elections of Umarizal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Abstract

This article identifies black women’s participation in the politics of Umarizal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, and its interface with political gender violence. Law No. 14192/2021 considers political gender violence to be any action, conduct, or omission with the purpose of preventing or restricting women’s political rights. The hypothesis of this research advocates the incidence and
prevalence of this violence, especially when crossing the social indicators pointing out that the most pronounced inequalities fall on black women. For methodological purposes, both a survey of quantitative data made available by the Superior Electoral Court (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral [TSE]) and semi-structured interviews with 3 candidates from the municipality selected for this research were carried out. This research study is justified by the fact that political gender violence is one of the factors for a reduced female presence in politics, according to the United Nations (UN); in Brazil, women represent 53% of the electorate, however, their low representation in institutional spaces is persistent, denoting a predominantly male scenario, conducive to political violence at any stage of the electoral cycle. When these inequalities intersect with black women’s participation, a constant attempt to mitigate women’s participation and delegitimize their race/color becomes even more clear. The political sphere of Umarizal exposes such a reality, since in 2004 and 2008 no woman ran for the Executive Branch and in 2008 only 4 black women ran for the Legislative Branch.