MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Márcia Lopes becomes Brazil's new Minister of Women

What do you need, woman? Lopes wondered

Márcia Lopes has been appointed as the new Minister for Women in Brazil, succeeding Cida Gonçalves. Upon taking office, she emphasized President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's vision of making women feel happier nationwide.

Regarding the mission she received from Lula, Lopes said she had “a good conversation with the president,” who “wants to see women happier, more protected, that he wants to see women in each of the 5,572 municipalities in this country, that they feel respected, welcomed, heard, listened to,” said the social worker, who is once again occupying a position in the top echelon of the PT government.

The statement was made alongside Gonçalves at the ministry's headquarters in Brasilia before they met to work on the transition.

Márcia Lopes recalled that this will be an important year, as the ministry will be organizing the 5th National Conference on Women's Policies between Sept. 16 and 19.

“We want conferences in all the Brazilian municipalities, in the states, and the big national conference. This is the moment for us to look at each other face to face and say: What do you need, woman? What do you women want from this country? We live in a very complex world, emotionally, psychologically, with all kinds of insecurities,” she said.

Also according to Márcia Lopes, the Ministry of Women's Affairs does not directly implement sectoral policies, which depend on the actions of various other ministries, such as Health, Education, Labor and Employment, among others, and she promised broad inter-ministerial dialogue and also with the other federal entities, such as states and municipalities.

On leaving the portfolio, Cida Gonçalves denied that any internal problems had impacted her resignation, and spoke of the need for new directions.

“In truth, we need a moment in which we need to renew some things, and that's important. I'm more of a manager, I want to go back to where I came from. It's a construction of mine and the president's, very calmly. I'm going back to where I came from, which is the women's movement. It's an exchange in which we need new energy, new spaces, and I also need to go back to where I came from,” she said.

It was the 12th ministerial change in Lula's government since the start of his third term. Last Friday, the president had already changed the head of the Ministry of Social Security, amid an investigation into fraud in the payment of benefits from the National Social Security Institute (INSS). (Source: Agência Brasil)