Exposure of Gender-Related Issues in Brazil

Introduction

This paper discusses the impact of gender-related issues in Brazil. I choose the country of Brazil because this was a country that I wanted to learn more about. In previous classes I have taken, Brazil was not a country that was drawn much attention to. Therefore, I want to learn more about the development of Brazil. Furthermore, after picking the country of Brazil, I had difficulty picking a topic for Brazil. After doing much research, I came across a topic of gender-related issues, which seems to be a problem in my countries that I am familiar with. I thought it would be a good idea to relate gender-related issues, which is a topic I am familiar with, to a country I do not know much about.

Country’s Description

To start off with, Brazil is a country located in the continent of South America. According to Worldatlas, “Brazil covers approximately 8,459,417 square kilometers of land and 55,460 kilometers of water, making it the 5th largest nation in the world with a total area of 8,514,877 square kilometers.” Additionally, Brazil was colonized by other European countries, such as: France and the Netherlands. This is surprising because as stated by Quora, “The French were the main rivals to Portugal in the early settlement of Brazil by Europeans, but they gave up by the end of the 16th century.” On September 7, 1822, Prince Dom Pedro declared Brazil’s independence from Portugal. Although this was meant to be good for the country of Brazil, it sparked a war for independence that lasted two years. In reference to the politics of Brazil, Brazil is considered to be a federal representative democratic republic. Worldatlas stated that this means that “the President is both the Head of the State and the Head of the Government.”

Continuing with the politics of Brazil, Brazil has a mixed economy that is growing. As proven by StudFiles, “The mixed economy of Brazil includes large agricultural, manufacturing and mining sectors.” In addition, “In 2008, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Brazilian economy was an estimated $2 trillion (in U.S. dollars), making it the 10th-largest in the world.” In the 1990s, Brazil was introduced to economic growth, due to investment from the United States. Brazil was also protected against a financial crisis in 2008. Despite all of this, poverty and corruption in the government still remain.

Getting deeper with the specifics of Brazil, Brazil has a total population of about 210 million inhabitants. More specifically, it was stated from Worldometers that “The current population of Brazil is 211,610,119 as of November 14, 2019” and that “Brazil ranks number 6 in the list of countries by population.” It was also found that the majority of the Brazilian population was made up of mainly women. Additionally, according to Index Mundi, the age group of 25-54 makes up 43.86% of the population in brazil, whereas, the least populated would be the age group from birth to 14 years of age, as shown by 22.33% of the population. Worldatlas states that White Brazilians, or Brancos, are the largest ethnic group in Brazil. Alongside them is Pardos, which is Europe, Native, and African ancestry, as well as Pretos, which is African Brazilians. Going along with racial groups, Brazil is mostly made up of the Catholic religion, however, it also follows along with the Protestant, Methodist, Episcopal, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Baptist religions (Meyer). Continuing on, Country economy shows that Brazil has a literacy rate of 92.05% and a life expectancy rate of about 74 years, which was stated by World Health Rankings. However, Index Mundi concluded that the infant mortality rate was 17.5 deaths/1000 births.

Furthermore, the currency in Brazil is called “Brazilian Real”, which became official in 1994. In simpler terms, 1 Brazilian Real equals 0.24 U.S. dollar. Nations Encyclopedia stated that Brazil’s currency is used in many industries, such as: “iron and steel production, automobile assembly, petroleum processing, chemicals production, and cement making.” It was seen that the most developing industries were technology industries. For example, the industry of automobile assembly was seen in the production of automobiles. It was stated by Nations Encyclopedia that “Motor vehicle production, Brazil's industrial backbone, experienced a drop of nearly 27% from 1998 to 1999 because of the country's financial difficulties.” Throughout the years, there was a major fluctuation in the production of motor vehicles in the automobile industry.

Topic

Getting down to the specific issue, gender-related issues are seen all over the world. Gender-related issues are known as the lack of power of control between gender groups. In other words, gender relations in the culture of capitalism stated, “The culture of capitalism helped define its system of gender relations: the loss of control by women over valuable and productive resources” (Robbins and Dowty, 314-316). Gender relations has caused a halt in the expansion of culture throughout Brazil. It can be stated that gender has a direct effect on capitalism.

Findings

The topic of gender-related issues has come to affect the country of Brazil as a whole. A study called “Exploring modes of communication among pupils in Brazil: gender issues in an academic performance” is a study that was done to observe the way boys and girls performed in a physics lab. It was shown that boys and girls performed very differently. For example, “Boys seemed determined to impose their will and to defend their masculine identity at any cost, even at the cost of academic failure” (Villani and Nascimento). Girls seemed to seek the approval of the teacher, needed more affirmation and usually requested the teacher’s attention from their desks” (Villani and Nascimento). This study shows how gender-related issues in Brazil has carried on into education and has affected academic performance. Furthermore, it shows how boys and girls are viewed differently in society. A person’s education is the most important factor in their life and due to gender-related issues, their lives are hugely impacted.

Moving along, many people have been trying to implement solutions to solve the gender-related issues in education. For instance, it has been stated that “Schools and teachers must intervene in classrooms to guarantee a better academic involvement of boys and girls” (Villani and Nascimento). In order for gender barriers to be prevented, someone has to start by forming a baseline of equality. If the school does not do their part in ensuring that all are treated equally, nothing can be done, since the school has most power. Teachers roles were to make sure that girls and boys were receiving the same treatment while learning.

The implementation of teacher’s roles positively impacted gender-related issues seen in education. As known in society, it is often assumed that girls work harder than boys in school. With the use of teacher’s attention on gender-related issues, it was proven that “In Brazil we need to re‐think a classroom structure, which currently leads to a permissive environment for boys where they can exercise their ‘macho’ power not only over girls but also over teachers” (Villani and Nascimento). This is a step in the right direction for ensuring that all students get equal treatment in class.

In more specific terms, the concept of girls working harder than boys is proven in statistics. For example, a commentary from three boys were collected stating “Ney: Only you did that … Nobody else did it! We’ll get just one or two credits (low grades). / Alex: I did more than all of you! … / Eli: You’ll correct the wrong things … Give it to me! / Ney: She (the teacher) did not teach me a thing! … How should I know it? …” (Villani and Nascimento). This proves that when boys are taught by a female teacher, they feel the need to be in more power and often rebel against the teacher. On the other hand, a commentary collected by three girls stated “Ana: Let me measure you (Bia and Ana start to measure Luma’s arms). / Bia: Oh, no! Luma’s arms are too big! (laugh) … / Bia: ‘Wow! What a big arm! (laughs) / Ana: I think that Luma’s arm is too big to be used here. Look at this!” (Villani and Nascimento). This statistic proves that girls take action and properly think the process through.

Conclusion

After learning much about the country of Brazil and the specific topic of gender-related issues, I am now able to understand the significance of equality between males and females. It shows that in society, men and women are not treated equally and this impact many aspects of their lives, especially their education. My findings from the study “Exploring modes of communication among pupils in Brazil: gender issues in an academic performance” shows that the culture of capitalism is pushing for the equality of genders and is trying to implement solutions in order to make Brazil stronger a country.