The Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided this Thursday (14) to validate the law that guaranteed equal pay between men and women.
Unanimously, the Court recognized the constitutionality of Law 14,611 of 2023, sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to oblige companies to guarantee equal pay between men and women who perform the same function.
The rule amended the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) to define that companies must pay a fine of ten times the salary in case of salary discrimination based on gender.
Furthermore, the law requires the biannual disclosure of salary transparency reports by companies with more than 100 employees.
The ministers judged three actions: a declaratory action of constitutionality (ADC), filed by the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) to guarantee the application of the law, and two direct actions of unconstitutionality (ADI), filed by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and the Partido Novo against the rule.
Votes
The unanimous score of 10 votes to 0 was formed based on the vote of the rapporteur, minister Alexandre de Moraes.
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The rapporteur vetoed the law for constitutionality and cited the existence of several international rules from the United Nations (UN), which determine equal pay between men and women.
The minister also highlighted that the Brazilian Constitution determines the construction of a free, fair and supportive society.
“It is not possible to build a free, fair and supportive society if there is gender discrimination between women and men, with women making up 51.5% of the Brazilian population,” he stated.
Carmen Lucia
The sole minister of the Court, Cármen Lúcia stated that the law gave legal effect to the constitutional right to equality, but considered that the standard is still insufficient.
“Prejudice does not go away. Prejudice against women continues to be the order of the day in the most perverse and cruel way. I’m talking about professorships. All of us women go through it in one way or another”, she said.
The minister also paraphrased the writer Carolina de Jesus and said that “in the past what oppressed was the word calvary, now it is the salary”.
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“Prejudice is in the look, in a word, in mocking laughter, in a type of disvalue beyond that which is blatant”, he added.
Red pill
Minister Flávio Dino said that there are still challenges in realizing women’s rights, such as combating misogynistic speeches, including courses to “teach men and be men” and actions of the redpill movement, which preaches the belief that women manipulate and exploit men.
“The challenges are expressed in the epidemic of rapes and femicides, in the existence of the proliferation of misogynistic discourses, which are not only on the internet, but are also found in exoticisms, such as courses teaching men to be men, when we know that, subliminally, the discourse is in the sense that there would be what, due to the cinematographic work Matrix, was conventionally called the redpill movement. So, it would be the pill of truth, showing that men were being enslaved by women”, commented.
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The other votes were given by ministers Cristiano Zanin, André Mendonça, Luiz Fux, Dias Toffoli, Gimar Mendes, Edson Fachin and Nunes Marques.
