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WOMEN MAYORS IN BRAZIL

Few women mayors elected in Brazil

Brazilian women mayors

Only two of Brazil’s 26 state capitals have women mayors: Emília Corrêa, Aracaju, Sergipe (left) and Adriane Lopes, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul)


Female and minority journalists became targets of hate campaigns in 2024 municipal elections

January 2025: In October 2024, Brazilians elected mayors, vice-mayors and local councillors in more than 5,500 municipalities. In a country with some 30 political parties, ranging from the far left to the far right, only the conservative Liberal Party received more than 15 per cent of the vote. All other political groups, including a coalition supporting the country’s President Luiz Inácio Lula (Lula), remained below the 15 per cent mark.

 

Only two state capitals elected women mayors

Women fared badly in the elections. Research by the Women Mayors Foundation among the 26 state capitals found that only two cities had elected women mayors. Emília Corrêa from the conservative Liberal Party assumed the office of Mayor of Aracaju (Sergipe) on 1 January 2025. A lawyer by training, the new mayor served previously as city councillor. In the second round of voting, she was supported by 57 per cent of the electorate.

 

Brazil’s only other female capital city mayor is Adriane Lopes, who, as deputy mayor of Campo Grande (Mato Grosso do Sul), took over from her predecessor in 2022 after his resignation to run for state governor. She is a member of the rightist Progressive Party. Mayor Lopes was elected in the second round of voting, a contest that gained national attention because two women were competing for the mayorship. Lopes’ opponent was Rose Modesto from the conservative Brazil Union party. Adriane Lopes was supported by 51 per cent of the local electorate.

 

Attacks on female journalists

Attacks on journalists, particularly women, marred the country’s October 2024 municipal elections. A report compiled by the Brazil-based Coalition in Defence of Journalism (CDJor) monitored hostility toward journalists between 15 August, when the election campaign began, and 27 October, the date of the run-off.

 

The findings, which were published in December 2024, show that during Brazil's municipal elections, journalists - mostly women - faced a disproportionate number of online and offline attacks despite women making up a minority of the media workers monitored. “The rise in attacks underscores a culture of growing hostility toward both media and minority groups in the country”, analysts say.

 

"We live in a very misogynistic and macho culture, so this is what happens when women are in a public space, getting power and being empowered," said Cristina Zahar of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

 

Alongside harassment of female journalists covering the 2024 municipal elections, Black journalists also experienced widespread racism, according to the CDJor report.

 

Attacks directed at women journalists often consisted of comments on physical appearance and name-calling, according to the CDJor report. The attacks on women mostly took place on social media platforms. On Instagram, two out of three attacks were directed at female journalists. On X/Twitter, it was more than half, the report found.

 

X/Twitter was the platform with the highest concentration of hostile discourse, recording 35,876 attacks, or 17.7 per cent of all posts collected on the network. TikTok, with 10,239 attacks, stood out as an emerging platform for the dissemination of aggression, while Instagram had 10,889 comments containing insults. The posts analysed frequently used terms such as ‘trash’, ‘activist’ and ‘fake news’ to discredit journalists and news outlets, reinforcing the rhetoric of press delegitimisation that permeated debates and election campaigns.

 

A pattern of concern was identified in the gender and race dimensions of attacks. Female journalists were more targeted, receiving 51 per cent of all attacks. On Instagram, they were the target of 68 per cent of the attacks, while on X/Twitter, the percentage was 53 per cent. The attacks combined professional criticism with misogynistic insults, including derogatory terms and disparaging comments about appearance.

 

The state capitals São Paulo (São Paulo), Fortaleza (Ceará), Cuiabá (Mato Grosso) and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) were the main hotspots of attacks, reflecting the intensity of their electoral contests. In São Paulo, the campaign of right-wing candidate Pablo Marçal (PRTB) played a central role in the dynamics of hostility, with direct attacks on the press and encouragement of violence against journalists and media outlets. In Fortaleza, outlets such as Diário do Nordeste and O Povo Online were accused of bias and favouring candidates.

 

Sources and contributors: Coalizão em Defesa do Jornalismo (Coalition in Defense of Journalism), Jocelyn Mintz (Northwestern University, Illinois)




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