International Women’s Day: work highlights erasure of women in Brazilian culture

Mencius Melo – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The book “Mulheres, Direito e Protagonismo Cultural”, ‘Women, Law and Cultural protagonism’ (Ed. Almedina Brasil, 670 pages), coordinated by Cecília Nunes, Flávia Piovesan, Vivian Barbour and Inês Virgínia Soares, brings an important record of the history of Brazilian women in the cultural production of the country, in 48 texts written by experts: there is evidence that many records were erased or even expropriated from the creators, as is the case of Brazilian female composers.

One of the surprising data was found by historian Ana Carolina Murgel, PhD in History and Culture from IFCH/Unicamp. The researcher imagined she would find from 800 to 900 Brazilian women composers, but came across the surprising number of 7,500 women composing between the 19th and early 21st centuries. Most of them were erased from the official records, evidencing a large-scale sabotage of the female legacy in Brazilian culture.

In an interview to CENARIUM MAGAZINE, lawyer Cecília Nunes talked about how women’s contribution to music, dance, and other artistic areas is historically ignored in different regions of the country, even though the artistic environments are more plural. “In fact, despite the fact that cultural and artistic environments are generally more open to diversity, it is not true to say that they are places where women’s rights are fully respected. The struggle for gender equality permeates these areas as well, and the articles in the book further reinforce this need”, she noted.

Relatives and partners

The expert further states that in the vast majority, the violence of erasure or expropriation was and is committed by people close to them. “It is widely demonstrated in research that the cases of violence come mostly from the partners of these women. In the case of cultural expropriation it is no different. The intimacy of the relationship, unfortunately, can create a favorable environment for these various forms of violence against women”, she said.

According to her, erasing is a brutal gesture: “This erasing of women’s creative potential is even more perverse when we think about the intellectual work created by them, since the expropriation of authorship affects the very dignity of these people. According to the Brazilian copyright law, No. 9,610/98, an intellectual work is a creation that comes from the ‘human spirit’. Expropriating a person from his own creations is to brutally strike him in an intimate and strictly personal sphere, generating long-lasting damaging effects,” she criticized.

Asked about the search for some safeguard of her rights, Cecília replied: “From the perspective of cultural erasure, Ana Carolina Murgel’s article evaluates the case of Brazilian composers and the erasure of their rights in relation to their own creations. Finally, we have the case analyzed by Livia Tinoco’s article about the mangaba pickers from Sergipe, which talks about the struggle and political dispute for the right to exercise this important cultural manifestation”, she declared.

Sexism and patriarchy

For Cecília, “Brazilian society is sexist and this is rooted much deeper than we can imagine. Works like this, therefore, are extremely urgent and relevant, since they make it possible for a certain group of women to talk about their experiences, their struggles, and their practical reflections on cultural rights and the access to cultural goods. It is certain that the change of this status quo is something slow and that demands a lot of effort, but it is necessary to walk the path so that gender equality can be a reality in the various social spheres”, she stated.

Even with the recent advances in the new government, Cecilia Nunes has reservations. “It is an advance, but it is also ‘homework’. Centuries of oppression and brutal inequality between men and women have formed the Brazilian society we have today. It is not a change of government or the enactment of a law that will revolutionize this structure. But this also does not mean that such changes are not necessary or relevant. As said, the path needs to be walked, small changes build the big ones, and it is in this sense that the actions that aim at gender equality must be thought and executed”, she pondered.

About the future, Cecília points out. “Copyrights are a kind of cultural rights, expressly provided for in the Federal Constitution in its Article 5, item 27, and Article 215. Because they are also characterized as fundamental rights, copyright occupies a place of special relevance within the Brazilian legal system. This means that the offense to copyright, cultural and fundamental rights is a damage caused, directly, to the dignity of the injured person”, he concluded.