Civil Code Corrects Gender Inequities in Brazil

A new civil code came into force Saturday in Brazil, formally ending many sexist laws that have allowed men to rule the roost in government, business and at home in Latin America’s most populous country.

Replacing a 1916 text, the new code states that a groom can no longer throw out his bride if he discovers that she is not a virgin. It also gives women equal rights with men in marriage.

“We hope the attitude of judges will change because the new code now gives women the same rights as men,” said Andresa Caldas, legal director at the Justicia Global nongovernmental aid group.

Caldas noted that the old civil code was drafted when Brazil was a rural, patriarchal society. It did not reflect life in modern Brazil, where about 85% of people live in urban areas and many women work.

Although Brazilian women won the right to vote in 1934, they have remained second-class citizens in many ways in the eyes of the law.

The new code, which took nearly 30 years to draft, no longer refers to the rights of a “man” but of a “person.” The father is no longer considered to be head of the family and the mother now has an equal say in the upbringing of children.

Reflecting changes in society, the family is defined as members of any stable union of a man and a woman, which no longer has to be sealed by marriage. Despite some protests, the new code doesn’t recognize homosexual unions as a framework for a family.

The legal age for marriage has been reduced to 18 from 21, and children can become independent at 16. Adopted children and those born out of wedlock now have the same rights as those born within marriage.