Sexual division of political activity and the language of exclusion of women – a feminist and interdisciplinary analysis of the frontiers of the political scene in state of goiás

Abstract

This work analyzes the multicausality of the underrepresentation of women in the Legislative Assembly of Goiás (Alego) during the 19th Legislature (2019 to 2023), where only 2 female deputies, out of 41 seats, held office. Historicization was used as a tool to describe and analyze the language of exclusion of women in politics and the sexual division of labor in political activity. The work adopted the methodology of grounded theory, emerging the categories analyzed here, in which semi-structured interviews were carried out with the holders of mandate in that Legislature, as well as with the first and second substitutes for the position of State Deputy. The interpretative method of analysis of the collected data was also adopted. These theoretical categories emerged from the saturation of the codes found in the codification by group and incident by incident of the interviews with the parliamentarians, added to the analysis of the Candidature System External Module of the Superior Electoral Court (CANDex – the candidacy records and information of the candidates) in the 2018 general elections. Patriarchy, here also called as male hegemony in politics, is the central category of this work, having been found through coding by categorizing and grouping the data collected. Although we are aware of the existence of theoretical differences between the denominations of the central category of analysis (patriarchy and male hegemony in politics), here we focus on the instrumentalization of the political phenomenon of women’s jettisoning. The central category also proved to be inseparable from other analytical subcategories found that interconnect with each other, such as the sexual division of political activity (public/private) also existing in the political scenario in Goiás, the language of exclusion that is part of political violence of gender and, also, the existence of gender-based partisan violence. The analytical key of the feminist perspective and the interdisciplinary perspective of women’s political rights was used, as the realization of human rights. The conclusion of this article identified the difficulty of occupying and rooting women in Goiás political parties, as well as pointed out the adoption of strategies of mutual support and affection in environments that includes and overflows the political scene, by the interviewees. Finally, the study verified the need to implement a critical gender perspective also by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), to improve CANDex.