Brazil's President-elect brings gender to government

In a move seen as a sign that gender will be important in her government, Brazil's president-elect Dilma Rousseff is preparing a Cabinet that is one-third women. Rousseff, who on Jan. 1 will become the first woman president of this Latin American powerhouse, announced to the team making the transition from the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration that she plans to boost the female presence in government ministries. The president-elect served as a government minister herself and has been among Lula's leading collaborators in his eight years in the presidency. Both belong to the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT). "It would be a very important gesture that the first-ever woman president concerns herself with women's matters," Teresa Sacchet, of the public policy research centre at the University of São Paulo, told IPS. "I have hopes that the government will make a leap in regards to gender, that it will show more concern about gender inequality and others, like social inequality," she added. Of Lula's 24 ministers, just three are women, although his two terms in office are seen as having advanced laws and policies that promote gender equality.