Last Friday (7th), a big night at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, the inauguration of the writer Ana María Gonçalves was accompanied by a speech that democratically increased the late admission of women to the academy. The case of writer Amelia Bevilacqua comes to mind. Her candidacy for president in 1930 because she was a woman was rejected, and her husband, Clovis Bevilacqua, a jurist and academician, withdrew from the association in solidarity with his wife. But the story doesn’t end there.
The current president of the academy, Melvar Pereira, recalled in a column in Globo newspaper on Sunday (9th) that Clovis Bevilacqua was the jurist who in 1916 created a new, ruthless Brazilian civil code. For those who don’t know, it’s a legal code that denies women the right to home, offspring, food, dignity, and life. A man who is “unsatisfied” with his marriage can corporally punish his wife, throw her out of the house, take away her children, deprive her of child support, replace her with another wife, and even, in the case of adultery on her part, murder her, with or without evidence, and a jury will find him not guilty.
Although the code provided for separation (“consensual” separation), the future looked different for each person. This man returns to single life, supports three lovers, and may even marry Mata Hari. The separated woman ends up returning to her parents’ home, where she is blamed for her failed marriage. Prostitution due to lack of professional preparation. Enter the monastery. Or marriage to a new man, who could only marry after the death of the ex-husband.
Amelia Bevilacqua didn’t leave her marriage even after reading the code her husband had created. He continued to write and raise chickens at his home in the North Zone. It wasn’t limited to backyards or chicken coops. They lived together, sharing a marital bed, dining table, and living room. The rooster woke them up in his room. Pigeons also came and went and built a nest in the closet.
Nevertheless, the ever-cooperative Clovis Bevilacqua did not leave the house.
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