Brazilian Women in the Face of the Advance of Neoliberalism and the Extreme Right

Abstract

In this essay we discuss the situation of women in the current national conjuncture in order to contribute to the analysis of the effects of the crisis and the offensive of ultraliberalism and conservatism against the interests of subaltern groups. Oriented by Safiotti’s (1985) concept of the knot of social contradictions, we discuss the process of dismantling social policies from the juridical-parliamentary-media coup of 2016 through the beginning of Jair Bolsonaro’s government in 2019. Subsequently, we examine the material consequences of those processes on women’s lives in the economic and politico-social realm. Finally, we highlight the recent Not Him Movement, the necessity of women’s struggle and its potentially revolutionary character, glancing at the emergence of antiliberal, internationalist, antiracist and anticapitalist feminist struggles across the world and also in Brazil.