Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T03:22:34.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

En-gendering the Police: Women's Police Stations and Feminism in São Paulo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Cecília MacDowell Santos
Cecília MacDowell Santos*
Affiliation:
University of San Francisco
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article contributes to feminist state theory and studies of women's police stations in Latin America by examining the processes shaping the multiple and changing positions of explicit alliance, opposition, and ambiguous alliance assumed by policewomen regarding feminists since the creation of the world's first women's police station in 1985 in São Paulo. While studies of women's police stations tend to overlook the political conjuncture, much of the literature on the state and gender explains the relationship between the state and women's movements as a function of the political regime. I argue for a more grounded feminist state theory, taking into account interactive macro and micro, local and international forces. As this case study demonstrates, policewoman-feminist relations evolve due to interactions between the political conjuncture, the hegemonic masculinist police culture, developments in the feminist discourse on violence against women, and the impact of the contact policewomen sustain with women clients.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , 2004 , pp. 29 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

∗

This article is the result of extensive revisions on papers I have presented at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at the meetings of the Latin American Studies Association and the American Sociological Association. I thank David López and his graduate students, as well as Millie Thayer, for comments on a first and rough version of this article. I am also grateful to the anonymous LARR reviewers, Susie Dod Thomas, Aránzazu Borrachero, Laura Lyster, and especially Stephanie Sears for comments on earlier drafts of this article. Thanks also to Adriana Carvalho for her invaluable research assistance, Teresa Walsh for English revisions, the University of San Francisco for funding additional research, and the policewomen and feminist activists who generously gave me interviews.

References

AGENDE-Ações em Gênero, Cidadania e Desenvolvimento, Brasil–Comité Latino-Americano e do Caribe para a Defesa dos Direitos da Mulher (CLADEM) 2003 O Brasil e a convenção sobre a eliminação de todas as formas de discriminação contra a mulher: Documento do movimento de mulheres para o cumprimento da convenção sobre a eliminação de todas as formas de discriminação contra a mulher [Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)]. Estado Brasileiro: Propostas e Recomendações. Brasília.Google Scholar
Alexander, M. Jacqui 1991 “Redrafting Morality: The Postcolonial State and the Sexual Offences Bill of Trinidad and Tobago.” In Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, edited by Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Torres, Lourdes, 133–52. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Alvarez, Sonia E. 1990 Engendering Democracy in Brazil: Women's Movements in Transition Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Alvarez, Sonia E. 1997 “Contradictions of a ‘Women's Space’ in a Male-Dominant State: The Political Role of the Commissions on the Status of Women in Postauthoritarian Brazil.” In Women, International Development, and Politics: The Bureaucratic Mire, edited by Staudt, Kathleen, 59–100. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Alvarez, Sonia E. 1998 “Latin American Feminism ‘Go Global’: Trends of the 1990s and Challenges for the New Millennium.” In Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures: Re-visioning Latin American Social Movements, edited by Sonia E. Alvarez, Evelina Dagnino, and Escobar, Arturo, 293–323. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Alvarez, Sonia E. 1999-2000 “En qué estado está el feminismo? Reflexiones teóricas y perspectivas comparativas.” Estudios Latinoamericanos 12–13:47–66.Google Scholar
Americas Watch 1991 Criminal Injustice: Violence against Women in Brazil. New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Ardaillon, Daniele, and Debert, Guita G. 1987 Quando a vítima é mulher: Análise de julgamentos de crimes de estupro, espancamento e homicídio. Brasília: Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Mulher, Ministério da Justiça, DF.Google Scholar
Caldeira, Teresa 1996 “Crime and Individual Rights: Reframing the Question of Violence in Latin America.” In Constructing Democracy: Human Rights, Citizenship, and Society in Latin America, edited by Jelin, Elizabeth and Hershberg, Eric, 197–214. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Conselho Estadual da Condição Feminina de São Paulo 1984 Boletim informativo.Google Scholar
Conselho Estadual da Condição Feminina de São Paulo 1993 Voar é preciso. Boletim informativo do Conselho Estadual da Condição Feminina/SP 3, no. 4 (December).Google Scholar
Conselho Estadual da Condição Feminina de São Paulo 2003 Conselho Estadual da Condição Feminina: Sua história, suas lutas, seu futuro, 1983–2003. São Paulo.Google Scholar
Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Mulher 1986 I Encontro nacional de delegadas lotadas em delegacias de defesa da mulher. Brasília.Google Scholar
Conselho Nacional dos Direitos da Mulher 2001 Pesquisa nacional sobre as condições de funcionamento das delegacias especializadas no atendimento às mulheres: Relatório final. Brasília.Google Scholar
Corrêa, Mariza 1981 Os crimes da paixão. São Paulo: Brasiliense.Google Scholar
Diário Popular 1985 “Secretário está satisfeito com a delegacia da mulher.” August 16.Google Scholar
Folha de São Paulo 1986 “Delegacia da mulher completa um ano com sete mil ocorrências,” August 6.Google Scholar
Franceschet, Susan 2003 “‘State Feminism’ and Women's Movements: The Impact of Chile's Servicio Nacional de la Mujer on Women's Activism.” Latin American Research Review 38 (1):9–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Elisabeth J. 1998 “Paradoxes of Gendered Political Opportunity in the Venezuelan Transition to Democracy.” Latin American Research Review 33 (3): 87–135.Google Scholar
Gregori, Maria Filomena 1993 Cenas e queixas: Um estudo sobre mulheres, relações violentas e a prática feminista. São Paulo: Paz e Terra.Google Scholar
Grossi, Miriam Pilar 1988 “Discours sur les femmes battues: Représentations de la violence sur les femmes au Rio Grande do Sul.” PhD diss., University of Paris V, Department of Human Sciences.Google Scholar
Haney, Lynne 1996 “Homeboys, Babies, Men in Suits: The State and the Reproduction of Male Dominance.” American Sociological Review 61:759–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilborn, Maria Luiza 1992 “Fazendo gênero? A antropologia da mulher no Brasil.” In Uma questão de gênero, edited by de Oliveira Costa, Albertina and Bruschini, Cristina, 93–125. São Paulo: Rosa dos Ventos.Google Scholar
Izumino, Wânia Pasinato 1998 Justiça e violência contra a mulher: O papel do sistema judiciário na solução dos conflitos de gênero. São Paulo: Annablume.Google Scholar
Jornal da Tarde 1985 “Lotada, a delegacia da mulher cresce.” August 16.Google Scholar
Jubb, Nadine 2001 “Enforcing Gendered Meanings and Social Order: The Participation of the National Police in the Nicaraguan Women's and Children's Police Stations.” Paper presented at the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington, D.C., September 6–8.Google Scholar
Jubb, Nadine, and Izumino, Wânia Pasinato 2002 “Women and Policing in Latin America: A Revised Background Paper.” Photocopy.Google Scholar
Kant de Lima, Roberto 1995 “Bureaucratic Rationality in Brazil and in the United States: Criminal Justice Systems in Comparative Perspective.” In The Brazilian Puzzle: Culture on the Borderlands of the Western World, edited by Hess, David J. and DaMatta, Roberto A., 241–69. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret, and Sikkink, Kathryn 1998 Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lievesley, Geraldine 1996 “Stages of Growth? Women Dealing with the State and Each Other in Peru.” In Women and the State: International Perspectives, edited by Rai, Shirin M. and Lievesley, Geraldine, 45–60. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Macaulay, Fiona 2002 “Taking the Law into their Own Hands: Women, Legal Reform and Legal Literacy in Brazil.” In Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America, edited by Craske, Nikki and Molyneux, Maxine, 79–101. New York: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machado, Lia Zanota n.d. “Eficácia e desafios das delegacias especializadas no atendimento às mulheres: O futuro dos direitos à não violência.” Photocopy.Google Scholar
Massuno, Elisabeth 2002 “Violência contra a mulher: Delegacia de defesa da mulher, atribuições e problemas (1985–1998).” In Tratado temático de processo penal, edited by Silva, Marco Antonio Marques da, 141–68. São Paulo: Juarez de Oliveira.Google Scholar
Metoyer, Cynthia Chavez 2000 Women and the State in Post-Sandinista Nicaragua. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Molyneux, Maxine 2000 “Twentieth-Century State Formations in Latin America.” In Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin America, edited by Dore, Elizabeth and Molyneux, Maxine, 33–81. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muniz, Jacqueline 1994 “O direito dos outros e outros direitos: Um estudo sobre negociação de conflitos nas DEAMs/RJ.” Photocopy. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto de Estudos da Religião (ISER).Google Scholar
Nelson, Sara 1996 “Constructing and Negotiating Gender in Women's Police Stations in Brazil.” Latin American Perspectives 23 (1): 131–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oherald.com 2003 “All Women Police Stations Working in India,” May 27. http://www.sameshield.com/news/awps.html (accessed December 15, 2003).Google Scholar
Rai, Shirin M. 1996 “Women and the State in the Third World.” In Women and the State: International Perspectives, edited by Rai, Shirin M. and Lievesley, Geraldine, 15–22. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Saffioti, Heleieth Iara 1994 “Violência de gênero no Brasil atual.” Estudos Feministas 2 (Special Number): 443–61.Google Scholar
San Francisco Chronicle 1993 “All-Woman Police Station for Pakistan.” December 21.Google Scholar
Santos, Maria Cecília MacDowell dos 1999 “The State, Feminism, and Gendered Citizenship: Constructing Rights in Women's Police Stations in São Paulo.” PhD diss., Department of Sociology, University of California-Berkeley.Google Scholar
Schild, Verónica 1998 “New Subjects of Rights? Women's Movements and the Construction of Citizenship in the ‘New Democracies.‘” In Cultures of Politics/Politics of Culture: Revisioning Latin American Social Movements, edited by Sonia E. Alvarez, Evelina Dagnino, and Escobar, Arturo, 93–117. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Schumaher, Maria Aparecida, and Vargas, Elizabeth 1993 “Lugar no governo: Alibi ou conquista?” Estudos Feministas 2:348–64 (Fall).Google Scholar
Silva, Kelly Crisitane n.d “As DEAMs, as corporações policiais e a violência contra as mulheres: Representações, dilemas e desafios.” Photocopy.Google Scholar
Soares, Vera 1994 “Movimento feminista: Paradigmas e desafios.” Estudos Feministas Special Number: 11–24 (Fall).Google Scholar
Soares, Vera, Costa, Ana Alice Alcantara, Buarque, Cristina Maria, Dora, Denise Dourado, and Sant'Anna, Wania 1995 “Brazilian Feminism and Women's Movement: A Two-Way Street.” In The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective, edited by Basu, Amarita, 302–23. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Station, Elizabeth 1989 “Confronting an ‘Invisible’ Issue.” NACLA Report on the Americas 23 (2): 10–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teles, Maria Amélia de Almeida 1993 Breve história do feminismo no Brasil São Paulo: Brasiliense.Google Scholar
Teles, Maria Amélia de Almeida, and de Melo, Mônica 2002 O que é a violência contra a mulher. São Paulo: Brasiliense.Google Scholar
Tribuna Operária 1985 “Um dia na delegacia das mulheres.” July 9–15.Google Scholar
União de Mulheres de São Paulo 2000 Projeto: Implantação do serviço de atendimento aos casos de violência doméstica: Relato sobre a experiência no Hospital Pérola Byington. São Paulo: União de Mulheres de São Paulo.Google Scholar
Waylen, Georgina 1996 Gender in Third World Politics. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar