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.