State feminism and women's political rights: Argentina, Brazil and Chile

• Grant number: 14/13248-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2014
• End date: November 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Eva Alterman Blay
• Grantee: Patricia Duarte Rangel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/23065-8 - 50 years of feminism (1965-2015): new paradigms, future challenges, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/16392-3 - Can feminism belong to the state? Reflections on State Feminism and Feminist Institutionalism, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

This investigation proposal is part of Fifty years of feminism (1965-2015): new paradigms, future challenges - Argentina, Brazil and Chile", a collective project coordinated by Professors Eva Blay and Lucia Avelar which is made up of renowned Brazilian, Argentinean and Chilean scholars, such as Nelida Archenti e Dora Barrancos. This research is dedicated to the relations between feminist activism and policy making. It aims to evaluate to what extent have feminist claims been translated into legislation favorable to women in Argentina, Chile and Brazil since the return to democratic regimes, focusing in women's political rights. Within this broad objective, we seek to comprehend whether the existence of "gender mediation instances" (such as government offices for women, women's council, among other names - those are named GMI in this study) makes difference in the process, acting as a catalyze filter. We adopt a State Feminism model developed accordingly to political representation theories, social movements' theories, public policies theories, committed to a historical neo-institutionalism approach and deeply inspired by Research Network on Gender Politics and the State, an European enterprise created in 1995. As a comparative study, this project faces the challenge to build references that can be validated in Argentinean, Brazilian and Chilean contexts. (AU)