“We’re here to fight, to win.Raised in Rio de Janeiro, Dill (pronounced ‘Jill’) is one of the only experts in samba dance and performance. “We’re not here to play around,” Rigaud said. Already, Rigaud has her sights on reaching the Sambodrome, where only the top schools compete. If the women perform well enough, they can climb the ranks for next year’s parade. This year, the school will make its debut in Rio’s lowest-tier samba league. “But I am sure that thanks to their union and strength, they will overcome.”Īt dusk on the day of TPM’s recent rehearsal, the group spilled out from the courtyard, with the sound of their drums reverberating up and down the narrow street leading off Madureira Park. “Every time women try to create new methods of resistance, emancipation and empowerment, there are going to be barriers,” Dürks Cassol said. “It has to be a man for now, until it changes, until this machismo ends,” Rigaud said.Īs in any power dispute, the school is going to face problems and opposition, said Paula Dürks Cassol, who wrote a paper about women’s rights and samba in Rio de Janeiro published in the Journal of International Women’s Studies last year. Their vision also will fall somewhat short given the procession is required by parade protocol to include two men as masters of ceremony. Carnival is just a few days off, but costumes remain incomplete due to a lack of funds. 19, TPM will honor Iansã, a female deity and warrior of Candomblé. With rare exception, women who contributed to samba over time are omitted from its history, said Maira de Deus Brito, who researches samba and the afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé at the University of Brasilia.įor their first parade, on Feb. Making time for oneself in a society that values and expects self-sacrifice from women is an act of resistance, Oliveira added. I think women need this, Black women in particular,” Margaret Oliveira, a 55-year-old Black housewife who is part of TPM’s group of dancers, said at the rehearsal. “Being part of this school is a way of saying we are together. During its coverage of Carnival each year, behemoth TV network Globo airs vignettes with the so-called Globeleza, meaning “Globo beauty,” played by a Black actress whose role is to promote the spectacle by dancing suggestively while virtually nude. When women are in the spotlight for Carnival, they are often sexualized - particularly Black women. Over the last decade, however, women have increasingly been standing up for their rights and spreading the message “No means No!” on stickers and pamphlets. Meanwhile, sexual harassment and assault remain widespread in Carnival’s street parties. That percentage has climbed from 15% in 2015, but remains short of parity. In business, women hold leadership positions in 38% of 250 mid-market companies surveyed by consultant Grant Thornton. There’s an even smaller proportion of female senators. Women are the majority of Brazil’s electorate, yet in October congressional elections claimed only 18% of the Lower House seats. Some call them the Turma de Putas de Madueira, or Group of Whores from Madureira. While Carnival’s street bands often employ clever puns, this was an unintended coincidence that often elicits laughter and mockery from men. “He said, ‘You’re a woman, get out’”, said Rosires, who, not wanting to make a fuss, ended up leaving, annoyed.Ĭhallenges start at the very mention of TPM’s name the acronym is the same in Portuguese for pre-menstrual syndrome, or PMS. A year and a half ago, she was playing in Madureira’s park for her first show with the school, when a man took the instrument from her. “Men look me up and down, they think I’m not capable,” she said. She is proud of her big, bulky surdo drum, but the blowback is strong. Among the group’s dozens of drummers is Gisele Rosires, 47.
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