The state of the country that most elected women to the government accumulates other features about female participation in politics, vying for the front in the choice of mayors and deputies and the performance of voters.
“They may not vote and be voted, without distinction of sexes, all citizens who gather the conditions required by this Law,” said State Standard No. 660, of October 25, 1927, which made the State one of the first to guarantee women the right to vote.
At the time, about 14 potiguares sought the electoral notaries to enlist. Among them, Julia Alves Barbosa, Joana Cacilda Bessa and Celina Guimarães.
“There was nothing written that they could not vote,” says Professor Teresa Cristina Novaes Marques from UnB (University of Brasilia). “They wanted to force the legal system to manifest themselves, giving reasons for the negative,” he adds, citing similar initiatives in São Paulo and Espírito Santo.
Almost a century later, women represent 53% of the total voters in Rio Grande do Norte. Not that this was reflected in the result of the elections: in the 2022, of the eight elected by the State to the House of Representatives, only one era woman; In the Legislative Assembly, there were 5 of 24 were women.
The UnB teacher states that when she guaranteed women the right to vote, Rio Grande do Norte had a political elite aligned with the idea of modernizing political institutions.
In this sense, the role of Juvenal Lamartine de Faria de Faria and José Bezerra Augusto Medeiros is relevant as relevant, respectively.
It was in the administration of José Bezerra as governor that the bill that gave women the right to vote. However, it was in the administration of Juvenal Lamartine that Law No. 660 was promulgated.
Lamartine knew, leadership of the Brazilian federation for female progress and accompanied her work in the state to defend the female vote.
At the time, these women acted as teachers in teaching. They formed the boys, who, when they reached adulthood, could vote but had no right.
“This perception was already very evident ten years before, when [a sufragista baiana] He forwarded a petition to the House with this argument: How could she teach boys the first letters and foundations of citizenship and couldn’t vote? “, Says the teacher.
In Rio Grande do Norte, it was one of the teachers who stood out on this agenda.
According to Plínio Saldanha, an anthropologist from UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) and curator of the Potiguar Memorial of Culture and Legislature, the protagonism of potiguares begins when it, in the early 19th century, publishes the book “Rights of Women and Men”.
The work is pointed out by some experts as a kind of free translation of a book of the English Mary Wollstonecraft. However, as there were no copies, it is not known for sure what the true inspiration would have been.
But it was only with the 1927 law in the right to female vote that the pioneering spirit of Rio Grande do Norte was consolidated. Saldanha states that this was only possible because, at the time, states had autonomy to legislate.
Among these women who requested the right to vote was Julia Alves Barbosa. However, she had the request rejected by the judge.
“Two arguments were given. First, because she was single, so at the time, she could not have the right to vote. Second, because she is a teacher, which shows what the treatment given to women at that time,” says Saldanha.
Another pioneer was Professor Celina Guimarães, who was Natalense, but lived in Mossoró. In her case, the title was granted. Therefore, it is considered one of the first voters in the country.
Activist in Education, Celina abolished physical punishments, which were very common, used alternative forms of communication such as the theater and was a soccer judge.
Joana Cacilda Bessa also joined the group of the suffragists who asked to vote. It is considered the first municipal destination – corresponding to the current position of councilman – Potiguar, being elected in 1928.
Another remembered is Alzira Soriano, from the municipality of Lajes do Cabugi. First elected mayor of Rio Grande do Norte, also in 1928, she is pointed out by experts also the first in office in Brazil and South America.
“Her family was already militant in politics, but she only took a taste for the craft when she widowed and took care of her husband’s attributions,” says Saldanha.
The state also has in its history Maria do Céu Fernandes, who was the first state deputy in Rio Grande do Norte and one of the first nine elected deputies in the country.
In addition to the pioneering of the suffrage, Rio Grande do Norte elected the largest number of women governors. There were three in history: Wilma de Faria (PSB) in 2002 and 2006, Rosalba Ciarlini (DEM) in the 2010 and (PT) elections, which holds her second term – the first election she won in 2018, when she was the only elected governor across the country.
According to Aluísio Lacerda, journalist and responsible for the memorial of culture and the Potiguar Legislature, women who enter political activity in the state have an incentive in history.
“Everyone who comes to public life pursues these good examples,” he says.
