An Intersectional Analysis of Feminist and Antiracist Candidacies for the City Council of Belo Horizonte – MG, Brazil

The political under representation of women in Brazil occurs from the local to the national level with an exclusion of black and indigenous women. In this case study, we seek to understand how the intersectionality of gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity and social class relates to the experiences of feminist and anti-racist women, elected city councilors or candidates in the 2016 and 2020 elections in Belo Horizonte – MG, Brazil. The transformations in the concept of gender occurred with the contribution of Brazilian black feminist knowledge. An intersectional methodology was adopted, based on the standpoint theories, with the triple aspect of intersectionality: field of study, analytical strategy and critical praxis for social justice. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with candidates supported by the collective “#partidA-MG feminista antirracista” along with discourse analysis. A document analysis of the parties' statutes and the elected councilors' legislative production was made. The following analytical categories came up: political formation, oppressions and intersectional struggles, occupation of a place in institutional politics. The gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity and social class categories stand out in the candidates' experiences. We came to the realization that these women's experience in politics is still that of outsiders. The political violence against women in an intersectional perspective discourages and expels them from politics. Solutions lay in collective practices and in the intersectionality of struggles. Inventiveness in politics came up with collective candidacies and mandates in confluence. Collective support for feminist and anti-racist candidacies adopted the strategy of quilombos in politics. The intersectionality of oppressions can therefore give rise to an analogous resistance in the form of an intersectionality of emancipatory struggles. Better understanding the representation of women in Brazilian politics, starting from the local level, offers theoretical and empirical support for an analysis of the relationship between inequalities of race, gender and democracy towards equal representation.