The rise of Dilma Rousseff and Michelle Bachelet in the presidency of the Republic: itinerary, meanings and challenges

Abstract

This article highlights aspects of the trajectory of Dilma Rousseff and Michelle Bachelet until the arrival in the presidency of the republic, the meanings and challenges of being a woman in a place of political power, historically masculine, and the relationship they maintained with feminism and how it happened. impacted the promotion of public policies. It is a qualitative study based on comparative methodology, whose data were collected through bibliographic research and semi-structured interviews with former ministers of Dilma and Bachelet and with members of feminist NGOs. The analysis is based on theoretical references from sociological, feminist and gender studies. The results show that the trajectories of Dilma and Bachelet have common points, although they lived in different social, political and cultural contexts. Both were the first women to assume the presidency of the republic in their countries, facing the challenges of a culture that associates political leadership with the male universe. Their governments were marked by their commitment to the feminist agenda in promoting policies for gender equality and equity.