The women’s bench in the Senate shrank in Sunday’s elections (2). In 2019, the beginning of the current legislature, there were 12 senators and, as of January 2023, there will be 10. Of the 27 elected for vacancies in the House, only four are women: Damares Alves (Republicans-DF) and Tereza Cristina (PP-MS ), current deputy Professora Dorinha (União-TO) and state deputy Teresa Leitão (PT-PE).
Damares and Tereza Cristinas were ministers in the Bolsonaro government. Dorinha and Tereza Cristina will assume the chairs that, until December 31 of this year, belong to Simone Tebet (MDB-MS) and Kátia Abreu (PP-TO).
If Senator Jorginho Mello (PL-SC), who is running in the second round of the elections for governor, is elected, representation could still increase: Ivete da Silveira (MDB-SC) would assume the mandate as an alternate in Mello’s vacancy and would be the 11th woman.
Chamber
In 2023, the Chamber of Deputies will have the highest number of women elected in the country’s history. Of the 513 vacancies, 91 – 18% of the staff – will be occupied by women. Among the new deputies, two are trans: Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and Duda Salabert (PDT-MG). In the 2018 general elections, 77 female candidates were elected to the Chamber.
Another mark achieved by women in these elections was the highest number of votes in their federation units. This is the case of deputies Bia Kicis (PL-DF), Caroline de Toni (PL-SC), Natália Bonavides (PT-RN), Yandra de André (União-SE), Silvye Alves (União-GO), Dr Alessandra Haber (MDB-PA), Socorro Neri (PP-AC) and Detinha (PL-MA).
The federation of parties led by the PT elected the largest number of deputies in the Federal Chamber: 21. The PL comes next, with 17 seats won in the House. The PSD also had a significant increase in elected deputies this year, from one to four representatives in 2023.
