"Anonymous angels made of tenderness": Police women in são paulo during the military dictatorship (1964-1985)

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a historical analysis of the changes in the role of females in the military police of Sao Paulo during the military governments in office after the 1964 coup. Drawing upon the analysis of newspapers, articles, images and reports of the work of police women, this paper aims to understand the precepts that marked the work of the police in face of the changes in politics and manners that marked the period. As the first state in the country to employ females in policing, the case of Sao Paulo reveals how the Military Police used women in the area of social assistance. The Military Police employed women in activities such as the regulation of services to immigrants, coping with "minor" offenders, as well as in other areas of the "battle" against groups that represented politic opposition. Therefore, the work of police women was fundamental in constructing a discourse of public security modernization in this period.