Insider and outsider Advocates : Brazilian State Feminism, Abortion and Violence against Women, 2003 - 2006.

This dissertation examines the relationship between the Brazilian Women's Policy Agency (WPA), the Secretaria Especial de Politicas para as Mulheres- SPM (the Special Secretariat for Public Policies for Women), and the feminist movements in two policy debates in 2003- 2006. This study analyses the level of policy impact the feminist movements had through the SPM in two contrasting case studies, abortion and Violence against Women (VA W). These cases were selected because they were both considered high priority for the feminist movements, and they both received government attention prior to, and during 2003-2006. However, they differed substantially in the level of contentiousness, which indicated different probabilities for movements' success. Loosely informed by the Research Network on Gender and the State (RNGS) framework, this study explores the interaction between feminist movements and, the SPM through focussing on the policy environment, the characteristics of the feminist movements, and the activities and characteristics of the SPM. My findings are based upon primary and secondary source material, including elite interviews, participant observations and the analysis of academic and activist material. In the abortion debate, feminists gained access to, and impacted upon the policy debates about decriminalization, though the partnership between the SPM and the movements did not result in a change of policy. In the case of VAW however, the SPM facilitated the creation of Brazil's first law regulating V A W. I conclude that although the SPM was less able to enable feminist impact in the abortion debate than in V A W, I nevertheless argue that the SPM secured a high level of feminist impact on policy debates in both cases.