School curricula will now highlight contributions made by women in the scientific, social, artistic, cultural, economic and political fields. This is what determines the Bill (PL) 557/2020which includes mandatory feminine approaches in school curricula and also creates the Week of Appreciation of Women who Made History. The text, approved this Tuesday (10) in the Senate, now goes to the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for sanction.
The bill amends sections of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB) to modify the curricular content of elementary and secondary education in public and private schools. In one of its sections, the text states that “the inclusion of approaches based on women’s experiences and perspectives aims to recover women’s contributions, experiences and achievements in the scientific, social, artistic, cultural, economic and political areas”.
Among the justifications for the approval of the project is the low representation of women in the scientific world due to prejudice and discouragement regarding the positions they can occupy.
The rapporteur, Senator Soraya Tronicke (Podemos-MS) defended the approval of the project, noting that, when mentioned in books, women are often framed in “traditional” gender roles, pre-established by the patriarchy. The senator also highlighted that there is marginalization, underrepresentation, and, in some places, the exclusion of women from history books.
“Stereotypes influence girls’ decision-making from as early as 6 years of age, discouraging them from taking an interest in certain subjects, which, as a consequence, is reflected in the low female representation in several areas and highly recognized careers,” she explained.
The senator also highlighted that many discoveries and achievements in various areas attributed to men actually had the participation of women whose names were purposely ignored throughout history and during the transmission of knowledge.
“[O projeto] contributes to this transmission of knowledge finally understanding, in an egalitarian way, the female perspective, which, in addition to contributing to the deconstruction of an educational system influenced by gender stereotypes, will also promote a future of greater equality and greater presence of women in fields in which the current underrepresentation is flagrant, such as in politics, physics, philosophy, mathematics and many others”, he stated.
Regarding the Week of Appreciation of Women who Made History, the project determines the holding of an annual campaign, in the second week of March, in basic education schools across the country.
“With due representation, decisions in these fields will no longer be made in favor of just one gender, but there will be a greater wealth of perspectives, including for the formulation and implementation of public policies that benefit the various groups that make up Brazilian society,” said the rapporteur.
