Jacqueline Pitanguy – Brazil – World People's Blog

Linked with Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informação e Ação CEPIA.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

Jacqueline Pitanguy, a sociologist and political scientist, is the Founder and Director of Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informação e Ação (CEPIA), a non-governmental organization based in Rio de Janeiro. At CEPIA Ms. Pitanguy coordinates research on gender issues and facilitates advocacy and educational programs relating to violence against women and reproductive health. She has been a Professor at the Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Rio de Janeiro and at Rutgers University, where she held the Laurie New Jersey Chair in Women’s Studies from 1991-92. She held a cabinet position as President of the National Council for Women’s Rights (1986-89), designing and implementing public policies to improve women’s condition in Brazil … (full text).

… « Ms. Pitanguy is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of the Commission on Citizenship and Reproduction, Commission on Citizenship and Reproduction based in Sao Paulo. She is a member of the Boards of the Inter-American Dialogue, the Society for International Development, and the Women’s Learning Partnership, and is currently the Chair of the Boards of the Global Fund for Women, and of CARE-Brazil, where she recently assumed the presidency. She was also a member of the International Human Rights Council, headed by former President Jimmy Carter, of the International Advisory Group of the MacArthur Foundation, and of the Institute for Education of UNESCO. « Ms. Pitanguy has published extensively and is frequently interviewed by the national and international media on issues related to women’s rights, and participates in numerous national and international conferences. She is fluent in French, Spanish and English. Portuguese is her native language ». (She is) Member of the Steering Committee, World Movement for Democracy … (full text).

Jacqueline Pitanguy – Brazil

She works for Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informação e Ação CEPIA (in portugese) /Citizenship, Studies, Information, Action (see its Google Scholar search-results).

Watch this video: an Interview with Jacqueline Pitanguy, time not indicated, June 2, 2008.

She says: « The characteristic of the feminist movement is the search of the interlocution with others. Wars happen when the channel of expression of conflicts fails ». (1000peacewomen).

She was presenter for Reflections on the International Women’s Movement: 10 Years After Beijing, May 10, 2005.

Find her and her publications on Google Video-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.

She writes: … When we think of human security as a concept that is molded on a power arena, we can understand why it takes certain meanings in certain countries and not in others. We can understand why at a particular time and in a particular country it’s understood basically as related to protection against terrorism and why, for instance, in this same moment in another country, such as Brazil, it is deeply related with food security. Human security is not a neutral concept. It is also important to note that if a certain conceptualization of human security is dominant in a certain place it doesn’t mean that it is consensual. And this gives us hope of transformation. Indeed, different sectors— representing different visions and different interests—interact, struggle, and negotiate at national and international arenas around the definition of human security because this is a key concept. It’s a key concept because it affects budget allocation, legitimizes governmental policies in security, and affects the allocation of priorities in public policies and many other government actions. It is a key concept for local and global governance directly affecting people’s everyday lives. So I would be very careful in handling the concept of human security because it can and has been used very differently, and for very different purposes, at different moments and in different countries … (full text, 4 pdf pages, not dated).

She says also (about CEPIA): … « There are many challenges. An important one is to maintain the groups’ autonomy in terms of partisan politics and thus to maintain its legitimacy to address a large political spectrum. It is also important to be able to address the state independently and make a clear distinction between collaboration with a governmental organ and cooptation. It is also necessary to be able to negotiate and build alliances, understanding that to promote a reform requires different abilities and strengths and thus a collective ownership of the advocacy project … and: It is important that an organization diversify its source of funding and not be too dependent on one specific donor. It is also important to be visible, vocal, and not afraid to defend positions on the issues that have to do with the NGO´s agenda. It is of course important to rely on solid information and to have a qualified staff in order to do so with sound arguments. And, most of all, it is important to listen, to interact, and to network with other actors to maximize one’s strengths. (full text).

(on 1000peacewomen): In the 70s, Jacqueline Pitanguy (1945) was important in the creation and consolidation of a feminist flag, which contributed to the resistance to the military dictatorship. In the end of the 80s, the sociologist and political scientist participated actively in the process of re-democratization of Brazil, defending women’s benefits. Today, in charge of the Forum of the Civil Society of the Americas, founded by her, she became a respected leadership in the area of human rights, in the entire continent.

Jacqueline Pitanguy studied Sociology and Political Sciences in the United States, Europe and Chile, in a circuit which, since the beginning, guaranteed her a view of the international dimension of fight for democracy and for human rights. In her return to Brazil in the 70s, she went to work in a research about the conditions of the job market and found out the size of the inequality between men and women. This discovery motivated her to integrate the group of founders of the new feminist movement in the country. From this time, she believes that the most important thing was the construction of a feminist flag that contributed to the resistance to the military dictatorship in all Latin America. “This was a mark in the history of Latin-American women.”

When she completed 10 years of feminist and left-wing militancy, Jacqueline took on the presidency of the National Council of Women’s Rights, remaining there for four years. Created in 1985, when the advance of Brazil in the re-democratization process forced the Presidency to once again be occupied by a civilian, the Council was a pioneer initiative. It reunited state and civil society in the definition of public policies to attend women.

Today, the Jacqueline’s work goes beyond her duties as director of Cepia (Citizenship, Study, Research, Information and Action), a non-governmental organization created by her in 1990. Founder of the Forum of the Civil Society of the Americas, she is articulated in a network of organizations that acts in the area of human rights in the Continent. She woke up to the importance of uniting forces in Latin America when she lived in Chile during the democratic government of Salvador Allende. Since then, she has been building a “global view of the defense of human rights and of women’s rights”.

The National Council of Women’s Rights was a model multiplied in many countries of Latin America. Until this day, it is responsible for the implementation of public policies regarding gender in Brazil. (on 1000peacewomen).

link: World Movement for Democracy.