Recent Research on Women in Brazil

• Published in: Latin American research review 1985-01, Vol.20 (3), p.163-179
• Main Author: Hahner, June E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brazil; Employment discrimination; Ethnology; Family. Family relations; Females; Femininity; Feminism; Gender roles; Indexing in process; Latin American literature; Research Reports and Notes; Research review studies; Social structure and social relations; Textile industry; Woman status; Womens rights; Womens studies; Working women
• ISSN: 0023-8791; 1542-4278
• DOI: 10.1017/S0023879100021737

The last half-dozen years have witnessed an outpouring of Brazilian publications, both rigorous academic studies and popular essays, on women and their roles and activities within Brazilian society. Since the late 1970s, publishers and educated audiences have demonstrated an active interest in works on women that contrasts sharply with the hostile reception accorded Betty Friedan and the Brazilian translation of her Feminine Mystique in 1971. What was once a subject for ridicule has become a timely topic. In 1980 a compendium of the year's nonfiction titles revealed more books listed under the heading of feminism than under biology or botany, and almost as many as under anthropology or cooking. 1 The expanding publications on socially determined sex roles have accompanied the development of a small, but active, feminist movement and a general increase in publishing activities in Brazil as the “redemocratization” process gains strength and readers seek more information on previously forbidden topics.