The Committee on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship approved on Thursday (14), the Bill 3563/08, proposed by Deputy Íris de Araújo (PMDB-GO), which destines 10% of the resources of the Party’s Fund for those parties which elect at least 30% of women for the Chamber. Or be it, of the total of federal deputies elected by that party, 30% should be women, so that it can participate in the sharing of those 10% of the Party’s Fund. The bill amends the Law on Political Parties (9.096/95).

Its rapporteur, Deputy Sandra Rosado (PSB-RN), who presented a favorable review, affirms that the bill represents a “new step towards offering women more political room and power”. Its rapporteur agrees with its author, by observing that the gender quota of 30% of the seats of candidates in proportional elections, which is already guaranteed by law, is not sufficient.

Distribution method
95% of the Party’s Fund are currently distributed to parties, according to the proportion of votes obtained in the last elections for the Chamber of Deputies, and the remaining 5% are equally shared by all parties registered at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

That bill keeps the 5% equally shared by the parties, and reduces from 95% to 85% the parcel distributed according to the votes’ proportion. The bill’s objective is to encourage parties to qualify and to foment female candidacies, thus increasing the access of women to political life.

Brazil has one of the poorest representation rates of women in public power, according to the Inter-parliamentary Union. Among 156 countries, Brazil occupies the position 108, regarding the amount of women at the Federal Chamber. There are only 46 female deputies, from a total of 513, and 11 female senators, from a total of 81, an average which is below the international and the Latin-American one.

Procedure
The bill is being processed in priority regime and follows now to the House Floor.

Report - Luiz Claudio Pinheiro
Editing - Wilson Silveira
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda