Students present gender research

A select group of CSB students were given the opportunity to research the presidency of the first female president of Brazil.

Their findings were presented to CSB/SJU community members on March 14 during a presentation titled “Gender Double Bind, Misogynistic Backlash, and Brazil’s First Woman President,” sponsored by the gender studies department and the Multicultural Center.

In the spring of 2020, political science professor Pedro dos Santos invited Noemi Salas-Rivera, Belen Dominguez and Brianna Kreft to join him in researching the election, presidency and impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the first female president of Brazil. Salas-Rivera and Dominguez have since graduated, but Kreft continued to work on the project alongside Lizbet Martinez-Port and Brigid Smith.

Dos Santos defined the concepts of the double bind and misogyny, explained their research process and overviewed the findings. Kreft, Smith and Martinez-Port were able to attend the event due to studying abroad or travel issues, but filmed videos explaining their key takeaways from both the project’s conclusions and the research process itself.

“Our project really focused on this idea that even when women do gain political positions, they still face many obstacles and we really found that Rouseff is a great example of this because although she became a leader…she still faced many, many challenges that eventually lead to her impeachment,” Smith said.

During the beginning of the project, the students worked on coding interviews that dos Santos and his colleague Farida Jalalzai had conducted in preparation for their book on Brazilian women in politics. They spoke with Brazilian political experts on the public opinion of Rouseff and the experience of being a woman in politics—a male-dominated field in Brazil and globally. This is why many of the interviews were with women sympathetic to Rouseff ’s career.

“We’re trying to focus on women’s experience in politics, so women talking about women’s experience is an important aspect of how we’re thinking about coding,” dos Santos said. “It’s about this woman’s experience of seeing Dilma Rouseff, but also this woman’s experience in politics themself.”

The team studied how Rouseff ’s gender expression influenced her career. Then, they applied their findings to trends of violence and misogyny against women in politics, specifically the concept of the gender double bind.

According to their presentation, the gender double bind is the phenomenon which makes it incredibly difficult for female politicians both to be elected and sustain public approval, especially within executive positions, because they are criticized for being perceived as too feminine or too masculine.

“There is a dichotomy that exists about how women should act in positions of leadership. On the one hand, they are expected to be lady-like and demonstrate more feminine characteristics such as being nurturing and emotional. But on the other hand, in order to be perceived as a good leader they must possess more masculine traits such as strength, assertiveness and decisiveness,” Martinez-Port said. “They may be seen as likeable but not competent, or competent but not likable. Rarely are they seen as both.”

Dos Santos says this contradiction leads not only to criticism of these women but also is an intentional form of misogyny meant to exclude all women from leadership. Dos Santos and the students both emphasized the universality of the gender double bind and misogyny.

As future female leaders, the students said this subject was personal to them. In addition to learning about the subject in an academic way, they also learned about what it means to be a female leader under these conditions.

“The speech opened up my mind on just how difficult for women it can be when they are outside of the societal norm,” said Greta Nesbit, CSB first-year. “It did change the way I see female leaders and how they are forced to find a balance between being not too masculine and not too feminine…I do see myself as an aspiring female leader and would love to be a part of this movement, but this talk kind of scared me for what the future might look like. But I think despite all the setbacks change is possible for women leaders.”

In addition to applying the topic to their personal careers, the audience discussed how the double bind is relevant to our campus community.

“It was interesting hearing about it from a man’s perspective because I think a lot of topics like this tend to get labeled as ‘women’s issues’ and then men tend to step away from the conversation even though they need to be included in the solution,” Rachel Eiden, CSB first-year said. “I appreciated how the Q and A section related the topic back to our country and our own school, especially right before the announcement of the new joint president,” Eiden said after the announcement was made on Tuesday. “I am hopeful that President Bruess will acknowledge some of these issues and create student and administrative leadership opportunities for all women on campus.”