Female political (under)representation and the participation of women in democratic spaces: examining public councils

Abstract

The article starts from the observation about the historically established differences between men and women in the social field, evidencing the low representativeness of women in spaces of power, something disputed by the feminist movement, which aims to expand the role of women in the political dimension, as well as expansion of rights and equality in the treatment of women in society. From this perspective, the objective of this paper is to address women’s under-representation in politics, as well as to examine the quality of women’s participation in democratic spaces, especially in public management councils. The methodology is logical-deductive. The work begins with the historical and social construction of the role of women in society and crosses the issues related to the feminist movement. It then discusses the instrumentalization of social participation in Brazil, highlighting the female representation in these spaces, focusing on the Public Management Councils. It is concluded that, although there has been significant progress for women in the public space with its increasing insertion in local councils, the public arena is still mostly male, showing also that the spaces occupied by women are intrinsically related to domestic issues.