More women in politics: a challenge for MIL Cities

Abstract

Cultural barriers to communication have been one of the reasons why women still have low representation in politics. Especially in Brazil, where they are 52% of the electorate. In the last election for mayors and councilors held in 2016, for example, of the 5,668 cities, only 641 elected women for the position of mayor. The municipal legislature also became mostly male: only 24 have a majority of councilors. In this chapter, we will present a little of the history of the female vote in Brazil and ana­ lyze, through a case study, the candidacy of three female leaders: the Brazilians Dilma Roussef and Marina Silva, and the American Hillary Clinton. The objective is to compare how cultural barriers to communi­ cation, based on the concept created by Professor Doctor Felipe Chibás Ortiz and recognized by Unesco’s GAPMIL, — “as the set of factors, sym­ bolic or concrete that go beyond idiomatic differences that can hinder communication between people or organizations of different ethnici­ ties, values, countries, peoples, regions or cultures” — presented them­ selves with each of the candidates. Suggestions of solutions recognized by the MIL Cities will also be presented, through education, training and women’s empowerment, with actions and interventions in physical and digital spaces.