Who Run The World?

Living in a Latin American country it is impossible to not be exposed to and form an opinion towards the phenomenon of machismo.  Whether its men standing on a street corner whistling/hissing as a woman passes by, ignoring their every presence or the many real pre-conceived ideas of what Latin American women "should" do, it is impossible to ignore.

On Monday, March 18th, Barnard College hosted its fifth annual symposium on the topic of women and their roles in changing and empowering other women in their respective corners of the world.  After previously holding similar events in China, Dubai, India, and South Africa, the symposium was brought for the first time to the Americas, and to São Paulo, arguably one of the largest financial and cultural centers of the western hemisphere.

"Women Changing Brazil"

I accompanied a small delegation of students on behalf of my school's social justice club to the one-day event, composed of panels on various topics such as the arts, science/academia, and business.  Speakers included Kátia Lund, the director of the Oscar-nominated "Cidade de Deus" (City of God); Duilia de Mello, a Brazilian NASA astronomer; Adriana Machado, the CEO of GE Brazil; and Maria Cristina Frias, a columnist for the Brazilian newspaper Folha.  Brazil's Minister for Womens' Affairs, Eleonora Menicucci, was even on hand to give the keynote address.

With film director Kátia Lund (center) and my friend
and colleague Jocelyn following the "artists" panel.

While the panelists and discussions were interesting, it became evident quickly that the same recipe for addressing womens' issues in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East could not be applied to Brazil - or, to a larger extent, Latin America.  While the panelists, by and large, were from upper-middle class to wealthy backgrounds, and predominately white, they all still maintained, after repeated probing from the various moderators, that they did not feel they faced any significant amount of discrimination because of their gender.  (Answers like this tend to cause hiccups in a conference discussing oppression of women and their subsequent empowerment.)

One moderator - the President of Barnard College, Debora Spar - made the observation that the president of Brazil is a woman, as are over 30% of the elected officials, then asked, "What is Brazil doing right?"  While this question wasn't ever really answered, many of the panelists, especially the scientists and business leaders, maintained that the idea that women can not do certain things or be good at certain things - math, for example - is not something they heard or encountered until they ended up in the US for one reason or another.

The issue of machismo was brushed up against but never dwelled upon for more than a passing moment, as were other issues such as social class and racial perceptions.  By the end of the three panels, I feel it became clear that the arrow had hit slightly off-center of the cultural target.  There are issues that women face in Brazil, however, they are not the same glass-ceiling issues faced by women in other parts of the globe.  They are coupled with other factors; oppression in Latin America is not a woman's problem, though it does play a role, it is not the whole story.