Mulher e delegada: gênero e relações de poder em processos eleitorais sergipanos

Abstract

This work aims to discuss connections between gender and politics, especially regarding the presence of center-right women in the political scene of Sergipe. The 2020 electoral process was marked by candidacies of female delegates, two in particular: one as a mayoral candidate and the other as a vice on the opposing ticket. In 2022, one ran for the Senate and the other for the Federal Chamber, thus becoming characters in Sergipe's political life. We start from the premise that their candidacies in 2020 were the result of the wave that elected political outsiders across Brazil in the 2018 electoral process, a scenario discussed in this study. As a central focus, this research aims to identify characterizing elements of the political journey of Danielle Garcia and Katarina Feitoza, considering the two most relevant social roles common to both: being a woman and a delegate. Our effort seeks to understand the main marker of their communication strategies. Their participation in Sergipe's political scene is part of a national situation and a phenomenon linked to a broader political mechanism, related, among other things, to their roles as security agents and to the crisis in liberal democracies, including their relationship with gender disputes. In 2020, Katarina was elected vice-mayor, but both were in the second-round dispute. At the time this research is conducted, in 2023, Danielle is the state secretary for women's policies, and Katarina is serving her term as a federal representative. However, we do not focus on the electoral outcome, whether victory or defeat, but pay attention to the communicational process and the political positioning of our characters in their roles as women and delegates. In the meantime, the following research question emerges: what is the relevance of the gender marker for their electoral communication strategies? To what extent is the role of delegate dissonant or consonant with being a woman? Based on these questions, we consider it relevant to analyze the post-2013 Brazilian political scenario, as well as the discussion of gender present in this context. To answer these questions, we propose a literature review that allows us to discuss gender and think about its role as part of the dedemocratization process, problematizing women's participation in Brazilian politics. As an empirical trajectory, we selected audiovisual products from the campaigns, which we explored to ground the creation of semi-structured scripts for in-depth interviews, conducted with the campaigns' communication strategists and with the candidates themselves. We start this exploratory exercise to support interviews and seek to analyze how communication was constructed, the strategies themselves, as well as the role highlighted in Danielle and Katarina, that of delegate and woman, and what possible intersections between them, as well as the gender and power issues that arise from there and their intentions. Furthermore, through this theoretical and analytical journey, we approach the debate on gender that underpins women's participation in Brazilian politics.