Women and Citizenship:

Female electoral registration and the increase of civil rights in Rio Grande do Norte (1927-1928)

Abstract

The present article intends to propose a reflection on the conditions that led a number of women to question the judiciary in order to guarantee\ gain access to civil rights in the Rio Grande do Norte, from 1927. Some writers, women and men, such as Carole Pateman, Flávia Biroli, Luis Felipe Miguel, Elisa Reis, Donna Haraway function as a sort of theoretical ballast in allowing a reflection on liberal feminism, political rights and citizenship, concepts that are fundamental in understanding the inclusion of new groups in the political game of the time. Based on the analysis of a diversified documental corpus – newspapers, minutes, correspondence, laws, among others – we can move ahead in the historical understanding of the mobilization and struggle of women for the right to vote. The campaign for the registration and participation of a segment of the women in the elections, as both voters and candidates in this small state of the country, strengthened the mobilization for the vote at the national level, and this was reached in 1932. It is necessary that the history of the First Republic be revised and narrated also from the viewpoint of the contestation of the feminist movements, the action of the Federação Brasileira para o Progresso Feminino in special, that were fundamental for the amplification of the social and political rights of women. They disobeyed and questioned and criticized and fought for democracy in the country.