Recreating Patriarchy in Northeast Brazil: Widows, Property Rights, and Gender Inequality in the Backlands of Ceara, 1845-18891

Using forensics to teach the natural sciences and raise student consciousness about gender-based social issues

“…In Brazil, the family institution was modeled after patriarchal archetypes imported through European colonization and adapted to the social conditions existing in the country at the time, i.e., slavery and latifundia (CAULFIELD; SCHETTINI, 2022). Despite the disintegration of rural patriarchy, which occurred to different extents in different regions of Brazil, the patriarchal characterhas persisted in Brazilian life and politics by way of patronage, nepotism, and 'coronelismo,'i.e., a system of unwritten agreements among local bosses (the colonels) to control the votes of population in return for favors and protection (SANTOS, 2014).For that reason, even in urban areas, authoritarian attitudes regarding the female condition must be understood in relation to the social domination that characterizes traditional Brazilian patriarchy (SANTOS, 2014;SUSAN K. BESSE, 2000). Since Brazil's colonial times, a woman's status in the family and society has been an indication that the patriarchal family is one of the templates of our social organization.…”

“…Since Brazil's colonial times, a woman's status in the family and society has been an indication that the patriarchal family is one of the templates of our social organization. In fact, Brazilian women only conquered the civil rights guaranteed to men in the first decades of the 20th century (SANTOS, 2014;SHWALB;SHWALB, 2014) Brazil 's 1988Constitution and 2002Civil Code, which replaced the 1916 Civil Code, consolidated some women's rights in society. In the new Civil Code, the family is no longer governed by the paternal power as in the feudal era but by that of the pater familiae, presupposing shared power between the parents.…”