Since childhood, professor and academic Eunice de Jesus Prudente had clear notions of community and . His parents, metalworker Joaquim José de Jesus and weaver Orlanda Carmo Jesus, attended Catholic worker youth meetings and discussed social issues based on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. She also saw the importance of what was discussed.
From this experience came her interest in politics and racial and social issues, themes that have accompanied her in her legal career. “In my house, political issues and issues of equality were always discussed a lot,” says she, who was born in the Mooca neighborhood, in the eastern region of São Paulo. “This fallacy that Brazil is one, in my house it wasn’t discussed like that, no. They were always very critical positions.”
These thoughts shaped his purpose in law, especially in the area of human rights, making him professionally seek equality in the exercise of rights for all people.
A public school student, Eunice also passed history in (São Paulo), but it was law that won her over completely. She graduated from the institution’s Faculty of Law, where she also received a master’s and gold degree. In 1980, he defended his dissertation on racial prejudice and legal equality in Brazil. Afterwards, she became a teacher at the institution.
In August of this year, Eunice became the first black woman to take office at the Academia Paulista de Letras Jurídicas, founded in 2009, occupying chair number 17 (out of a total of almost 80). “I feel very honored to be part of this academy,” she says.
She hopes the position will herald a new moment. “In my area of study and work there are many black women who are very well prepared,” she says. “We hope that in other institutions and in academies they will also be present in management positions.”
For her, the secret for these women to gain more space in institutions is intense political participation, in addition to involvement in the black movement. Eunice participated in the campaign to fill the former minister’s position at the (Supreme Federal Court). The president’s nomination () was that of the minister.
A staunch defender of democracy, she highlights the importance of democracy in 1988, which she says is inclusive. “She [a Constituição] has our face, because it came from a unified struggle of all social movements against the dictatorship”, he states.
A student of jurist Dalmo de Abreu Dallari, who she describes as “a humanist who faced the dictatorship and fought for human rights”, Eunice recalls a speech by the professor that highlighted the intersectionality of his ideals: “of course you raise the flag of , but remember that you are also a woman, you also come from a working family. There are other oppressions in this society that need to be addressed by the law.”
According to her, social movements have been little informed about the issue of gender and ethnicity. “Today there is no union, no workers’ association, that doesn’t have women and black people fighting for equality.”
She states, for example, that the gender debate within the black movement resulted in the visibility of the activism of black intellectuals. Names such as , and . “The black movement was very inspired by these women and their vision is intersectional practices. It’s a very intelligent, real way of tackling very complex social issues,” he says.
In addition to her academic career, Eunice has experience in political positions in the state and city of São Paulo. In April of this year, she was appointed municipal secretary of Economic Development.
As secretary, Eunice has met with people from the corporate world and businesspeople. “There are many people, many associations committed to this social justice”, she says, referring to article 170 of the Constitution, which deals with the commitment to social responsibility that must permeate entrepreneurship. “Being a capitalist in Brazil means seeing well beyond profit,” he says.
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Eunice de Jesus Prudente, 78. Born in the Mooca neighborhood, in São Paulo, she graduated in law (1972), master (1980) and doctorate (1996) from the Faculty of Law of USP, where she is a professor of State law. He was a member of the board of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association), as well as the board of the São Paulo Section and the board of the OAB-SP Higher School of Law. She served as executive director of Fundação Procon-SP (2006) and was secretary of Justice and Citizenship of the State of São Paulo (2007-2008). He is currently head of the Municipal Secretariat for Economic Development.
