“Most of these women did not choose to work in the plantations, they usually went with their husbands or fathers,” Cristina Buarque, who led the Secretariat until late 2014, says. “This patriarchal ‘machista’ culture infantilized them. We wanted them to know they had other options.” According to Cristina, women working in the fields were not provided with the same training or compensation as their male counterparts. They were often victims of discrimination, verbal and physical assault and domestic violence. For Maria, who worked in the fields for five years, the job was draining. “It was very difficult. I would spend twelve hours under the hot sun picking sugarcane with my hands full of blisters,” she recalls. “After that, I would come home and have to clean and cook for my husband and kids.”
Chapéu de Palha Mulher provides women with a mandatory three month course in public policy, and a small monthly stipend and childcare to support their participation. The course, taught by feminist trainers, teaches women
about rights and citizenship, covering topics such as the history of slavery; the struggle of women, black and indigenous people for equality; gender stereotypes; and the government’s human rights commitments under the Constitution. Once the participants complete this stage, they choose a professional training course, often opting to develop skills for traditionally male-oriented jobs. “The course is a key component to Chapéu de Palha Mulher,” Cristina explains. “We needed these women to understand how their local government works and what their rights as individuals are in order to train better professionals and better citizens.” Cristina was instrumental in designing the Chapéu de Palha Mulher programme. She was handpicked in 2007 by the late former governor Eduardo Campos to lead the Secretariat for Women’s Policies.
“The patriarchal `machista’ culture infantilized the women. We wanted them to know they had other options”
“I wasn’t a politician, I came from an academic research background,” Cristina says. “When I was approached to do this work, I knew this was an opportunity to bring the work I was a passionate about to a larger scale.” When she joined the state government, Cristina was
Maracatu de baque is an Afro-Indigenous dance typically performed by all men, but women in Pernambuco formed the first and only all-female group to perform the dance Photo: UN Women/Lianne Milton