It was in January 1986 that Gardenia Gonçalves (PDS) witnessed Molotov cocktails being thrown at La Lavaldiere Palace, home of San Luis City Hall. An angry mob shouted against the suspension of appointments made during the campaign by the former mayor of the capital, Maranhão.
In the same month, newly installed mayor Maria Luisa Fontenelle (PT) led a civil servant strike in Fortaleza. City Hall’s accounts were in the red, including those of the deceased who received their salaries through power of attorney holders.
The first weeks of their mission revealed aspects of the difficulties that these two pioneers of the New Republic would face. Gardenia and Maria Luisa were anointed in a vote 40 years ago, making them the first women elected to head the capital’s city hall.
The 1985 elections were the first to be held in person after the fall of the military dictatorship. Amid the debate justifying the strength of the PMDB, two women with different trajectories and opposing ideologies, but equally tenacious in facing unfavorable electoral scenarios, were surprised to see the polls.
Maria Luisa Fontenelle was 42 years old and a university professor when she ran for mayor. She was a student leader and a member of the Women’s Movement for Amnesty and the Ceará Women’s Union. State lawmakers got the Legislature to change its rules to accommodate women wearing pants during plenary sessions.
He ran for mayor in a difficult election. His opponents were the traditional names in Ceará politics: then-Federal MP Paes de Andrade (PMDB) and former mayor Lucio Alcantara (PFL).
However, PT membership rose rapidly during the campaign, gaining momentum after striking teachers and bus drivers faced a harsh crackdown. She won with 34.6% of the vote. Two-round elections were to be held only from 1990 onwards.
“It was a great campaign. We held three rallies in one night. I could see that people were afraid to vote for me, lest they lose the benefits they were receiving from the government at the time,” recalls Maria Luisa, now 82 and a former teacher.
At the last rally on November 12, bus drivers opened the turnstiles for passengers who attended the rally. PT members read “Faz escuro, mas eu canto” by poet Thiago de Mello, and speakers repeated the song “Maria, Maria” by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brandt.
Meanwhile, in San Luis, Ms. Gardenia Gonçalves was 40 years old, had never run for office, and was the wife of Sen. João Castelo, a traditional politician. João Castelo served as governor of Maranhão from 1979 to 1982.
His main opponent was Jaime Santana (PFL), supported by then-president José Sarnay, a native of Maranhão. The election was characterized by a militant atmosphere, with PFL and PDS activists fighting over posters and a shootout in which one person was stabbed a month before the vote.
“I was the only female candidate, and there were five male candidates. At that time, San Luis was still very rural and there was a lot of prejudice against women. In a way, that gave me the courage to move forward and I was able to win the election,” said Gardenia, now 85 years old and winning the election with 36.1% of the vote.
The two pioneers served three-year terms during a turbulent period marked by hyperinflation and a lack of institutional rules that first arrived after the 1988 constitution.
María Luisa, who was elected to head the PT’s first government in the Brazilian capital, was sworn in in Lula’s presence, pledging to fight corruption and tax evasion and improve living conditions in Fortaleza’s favelas.
But it faced the opposite political scenario: lacking a majority on the City Council, delaying employee paychecks and relying on transfers from the state and federal governments.
Amidst disagreements with the PT, a split began within the party. Conflict with other trends would result in the breakdown of 1988 electoral practices. The party’s national leadership intervened and expelled the mayor.
María Luisa was also elected as a federal member of the PSB in 1990 and later moved to the PSTU in opposition to the PT. A few years later, he left party politics and founded a radical critical movement that questioned political expression within the capitalist system.
“We reinforce the idea of a process by which people can build alternatives for humanity and the planet in a revolutionary way, and this is not through an electoral process,” explains Maria Luisa. His journey was told in the documentary “Prefeita,” directed by Felipe Barroso.
The City of Gardenia will also face a difficult task without the support and resources of Congress. Due to the City Hall fire, the administration lost the entire IPTU taxpayer base. Although she did not run for any other political office, she said she was proud of her tenure as mayor.
“Despite all the challenges I faced, I think that opportunity was worth it. Wherever I go, I always encourage women to not be afraid to move forward in politics.”
San Luis once again had a female mayor under Conceição Andrade (PSDB) from 1993 to 1996. Fortaleza elected Luisianne Lins (PT) in 2004 and 2008, but this was the first election without the support of the party’s national leadership.
Louisianne, now a federal lawmaker, assessed that despite recent advances, challenges for women in politics still remain: “Machismo is still very harmful. Forty years later, we are victims of the same gender-based political violence.”
Since 1985, only 16 women have been elected to 24 terms in the capital’s office, including names like Luis Erundina, Marta Saplicy and Lidis da Mata. There are only two mayors in the current council: Emilia Correa (PL) of Aracaju and Adrian López (PP) of Campo Grande.
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