Linked with .
She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.
She says: “One, who loves, does not compete. Peace depends on the end of the social debt that the developed world has to human beings”.
And: “Without equality between men and women, there will be no peace”.
Rose Marie Muraro – Brazil
Rose Marie Muraro (born 1930) was one of the pioneers in Brazil’s feminist movement. All of her work is connected to the defense of human rights and women’s rights, a militancy that she began in the 1940s together with progressive segments of the Catholic church. All together, Muraro published 26 books, always with the purpose of giving women the power of speech, and promoting equality.
When she started her militancy in the Catholic Action, in 1946, with Bishop Helder Câmara, sexuality was still a taboo in Brazilian society. The task of beginning the debates on this subject was given to Rose Marie Muraro. In the 80’s, her book on the sexuality of the Brazilian woman was on the best-seller list for six months. In 1971, when she promoted the visit to Brazil of Betty Fridman, a North-American feminist, Muraro contributed greatly to increasing feminism’s popularity. Four years later, she was one of the founders of the Brazilian Women’s Center. In 1985, she joined the National Council of Woman’s Rights, an inedited experience in Brazil.
Her great passion, during 74 years of life, was the defense of human rights and of equality between men and women. Nowadays, she still believes that it is impossible to attain peace while there is still inequality. During the Brazilian military regime, she had her work prohibited as it was classified by the censor as “pornographic”. She paid a high price for being a pioneer in the feminist battle, and, for many years, she was discriminated by Brazilian society for her ideas. This stigma still follows her, even though her contribution to the feminist cause has been recognized during the past twenty years, period after the end of the military dictatorship.
Mother of five children, grandmother of twelve grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Muraro needs, now, help from her family to survive, because she has faced many health problems in the past three years. In spite of her strong myopia that makes her technically blind, reading and writing is part of her daily work routine in her modest apartment in the district of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, city where she was born. Since the creation, in 1985, of the National Council of Woman’s Rights, the attention towards public policies regarding women has been growing in the Brazilian State. Today, there is a Special Secretariat for Women Policies. (Read all on 1000peacewomen).
Rose Marie Muraro: Memórias de uma mulher impossível: O título da biografia de Rose Marie Muraro (« Memórias de uma mulher impossível », editora Rosa dos Tempos) é chamativo e atraente. Assim também pensou a passageira de um ônibus circular da cidade do Rio de Janeiro que, ao ver o livro no meu colo, não se conteve e pediu para dar uma olhada. « Gostei muito do título, » me disse a tal passageira. « Levo uma vida difícil … Sou funcionária pública, salário congelado há anos, e ainda tenho dois filhos para criar … » Ao ouvir esta desconhecida fazer o seu desabafo, lembrei-me que o livro da Rose foi definido, pela jornalista Elizabeth Orisini, em reportagem publicada no jornal « O Globo »como um « libelo contra a opressão ». E é a pura verdade, pois neste livro a autora conta toda a sua vida e mostra como conseguiu vencer a cegueira (nasceu cega, com uma vista enxerga apenas 5% e com a outra não enxerga nada) e a morte. Na infância, Rose Marie teve septecemia no primeiro ano de vida e, posteriormente, reumatóide, tendo que reaprender a andar. (Read more on W.Mulher.com).
Rose Marie Muraro nasceu em 11 de novembro de 1930 praticamente cega. Sua personalidade singular deu-lhe força e determinação suficientes para tornar-se uma das mais brilhantes intelectuais de nosso tempo. Formada em Física e Economia, esta escritora e editora publicou diversos livros polêmicos, contestadores e inovadores do ponto de vista dos valores sociais modernos. Nos anos 70, foi uma das pioneiras do movimento feminista no Brasil. Nos anos 80, quando a Igreja adotou uma postura mais conservadora, passou a ser perseguida por seus ideais. Sua atuação intensa no mercado editorial é fruto de uma mente libertária cuja visão atenta da sociedade pode ser comparada a de muito poucos intelectuais da atualidade. (Read more on Sextante).
links:
Creating a Global Women’s Action Network for Children, 28 pages;
Text: Reproductive and Sexual Rights: Charting the Course of Transnational Women’s NGOs, 71 pages,
of the UN Research Institute for Social Development;
Discussion Paper no. 43, Gender Mainstream for Gender Equity in Partner Countries, kfw Entwicklungsbank, 30 pages;