Brazil’s feminists fear big setbacks following Dilma Rousseff's suspension

Hours after Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, was suspended by a vote to put her on trial for breaking budget laws, the man who took her place unveiled his cabinet: An all-male line-up of 23 ministers.

Sat, 14 May, 2016 - 01:00

Caroline Stauffer

The significance was not lost on feminists in the Latin American country, especially after a male-dominated Congress voted to remove Rousseff amid shouts of “Goodbye, dear!”

“Fifty-two percent of Brazil’s population has been ignored,” said Rachel Moreno, co-ordinator of a group that seeks to combat violence against women.

“We have suffered an attack from conservatives on the achievements of the feminist movement.”

A former member of a leftist guerrilla group during Brazil’s military dictatorship, Ms Rousseff has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

She said last month that the impeachment process was marked by “a large amount of prejudice against women.”

After the lower house voted to impeach Ms Rousseff on April 17, the Senate suspended her on Thursday for the course of a trial that could last six months.

Her vice president, Michel Temer, 75, was promoted to interim president, ending 13 years of rule by Ms Rousseff’s Workers Party.

Mr Temer takes office at a time the “bullets, beef, and bible caucus” of conservatives, ranchers, and evangelicals is gaining strength in Congress.

Jair Bolsonaro, an anti-gay former army parachutist who praised the dictatorship when he voted to impeach Ms Rousseff last month, is a rising star.

Some worry that gains in political participation for women in recent years, as well as social programmes that benefited the poor, could be lost with the fall of Ms Rousseff’s government and a shift to the right.

Although he promises to safeguard social programmes, Mr Temer has pledged to implement austerity measures and cut spending to control public debt without cutting taxes as he tackles an economy mired deep in recession.

Soy baron Blairo Maggi takes over the powerful agriculture ministry from Katia Abreu, the first woman to hold the job.

A fierce defender of Ms Rousseff, Ms Abreu once threw a glass of wine in the face of senator Jose Serra after he called her a “maneater.”

Mr Serra is now foreign relations minister.

Ms Rousseff, 68, was suspended with the majority of Brazilians in favour of her ouster, deeply unpopular amid the economic crisis and the biggest corruption crisis Brazil has seen.

Some congressmen who gave their “Goodbye dear” shouts were simply quoting the farewell words of Ms Rousseff’s predecessor and mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a telephone call with her that was recorded by anti-graft investigators.