This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of women's weak performance in legislative elections in Brazil by studying their electoral performances to the National Congress and Legislative Assembly (parliament) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul/2010. The article is divided in two parts. The first part presents an overview of female candidates in Brazil. The second one analyses in detail the electoral performance of female candidates in the state to the National Congress and Legislative Assembly. In conclusion, it finds an increase in the number of female candidates. However, this increased number of female candidacies does not convert into more women being elected. The women elected have a fairly traditional political path, in the same way of well-established democracies.
legislative elections 2010; female candidacies; Rio Grande do Sul
