The coup d'état 2016, women and the future of democracy: neoliberalism, inequality and misogyny

Abstract

This article analyzes the misogynistic dimensions of the 2016 coup d'état in Brazil. It seeks to add to all attempts to understand this historical, social and political process, especially in one of the central aspects of the coup, which was the use of misogynistic discourses and representations and the retreat that the policies adopted after the departure of Dilma Rousseff meant in the achievements and on women's rights. The analysis is developed from four aspects: the misogynistic character of the impeachment campaigns and the speeches given in the event of Dilma Roussef's political sacrifice; the effects of the coup on social rights and policies, especially those aimed at poor and black women; the convergences between neoliberalism and neofascisms in the country's recent political context; the centrality of the feminist perspective in the resistance against fascism and neoliberalism and in the struggle for democracy. The exclusion of women from spaces of power, the loss of conquered rights, the impoverishment of the female population, the increase in gender violence and rates of femicide, especially among black women, are addressed as central aspects of the motivations for the coup and the program of neoliberal fundamentalism and not as secondary effects of these policies.