CHILDREN & WOMEN

STREET CHILDREN OF BRAZIL

One of the biggest social challenges faced by the Brazilian government and society today is the lack of education, housing, health care and nutrition for homeless children in Brazil.

Thousands of children are abandoned on the streets and left to fend for themselves, as parents are unable to provide for them financially. These starving children living in deplorable conditions resort to activities that exploit them on being coaxed by street sellers and other adults. Such as abuse/sell drugs, petty theft, commit crimes and prostitution to earn them quick money.

For shelter, these children aged between 5 to 18-years-old live in abandoned buildings, cardboard boxes, and parks or on the street itself. Most of them do not even live to see their eighteenth birthday, due to the atrocities they suffer in life. Drug taking, particularly sniffing glue is common and a cheaper alternative. This adversely affects their mental and physical stability and reduces their life-span.

With the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS (estimated 660,000); poor families are unable to provide their children with enough attention. Parents that are murdered or die in death related cases also can’t pay heed to young ones they leave behind.

A staggering 200,000 to 8 million live off the street in Brazil and 609 in Sao Paulo alone. Police that regularly picks up street children for petty crimes have nowhere to take them but in jail, however after a period of time they are released and sent back to the same place. There are a few outreach programs that provide shelter, but are always full.

Known to be a nuisance to the society, they are shunned by politicians because they have no voting power or voice. Children that live with their parents have benefited with the policies introduced by the government that provides them free education and medical check-up. However those that stay on the streets are rejected and neglected.

ELEVATION OF WOMEN IN BRAZIL

There are more women than men in Brazil. Contributing factors for male deficiency is that men die at a younger age due to crime, motorcycle/car accidents and gang violence. Many men also have migrated to countries like Europe, Asia and America for better life opportunities. Brazil has become a land of women but sustaining the power to rise was an uphill battle.

Brazilian society was originally strongly patriarchal because of property transmission and religion. They put Roman Catholic values into effective practice where men were expected to demonstrate their masculinity by being the head of household and women were supposed to stay virgins before marriage and stay faithful to their husbands. Consensual unions, illegitimacy and prostitute still being a part of the society, people were not entirely acceptable but tolerant of such a lifestyle. Women achieved equal footing with men for all legal purposes under the constitution of 1988.

Female participation in labor force grew dramatically in the 1970s and 80s, resulting in new employment patterns and expansion in service and economic sectors. There were also several feminist movements which threw light on violence against women during this time which resulted in getting them specially dedicated for women police stations. From the 90s, focus shifted on reproductive health and rights along with increase of female participation in professions. They entered the formal and self-employed market with the increase of education. Status of women in Brazil is still going strong in various fronts such as sports, fashion, law, medicine, dentistry and engineering. Now, growing economy and rising prices have propelled women to aim higher.

Brazilians simply call her Dilma. Dilma Rousseff is the first female president of Brazil who was a onetime Marxist militant, technocrat, economist and is now the handpicked successor to the highly regarded Lula da Silva. In just 11 months since her entry in the presidential palace, she has emerged for his shadow to prove herself at the helm of the world’s seventh-largest economy at the time of global crisis. She has appointed women to high-profile positions like chief of staff, planning minister and minister if institutional relations, making them up to one third of her cabinet. This has injected a new tone in the presidential office and is influencing the country overall. 

Palak Singh

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