Lula claims that Janja demands more women in leadership positions

2023-12-22 20:13:08

Riscardo Stuckert – 22.12.2023

Lula was awarded as National Friend of the Catador

This Friday (22), the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), participated in the 20th Christmas of the Catadores, at the Mané Garrincha Stadium, in Brasília. In addition to the president, federal and state deputies were present, as well as some of the ministers, such as Marina Silva (Environment) and Cida Gonçalves (Women), and the first lady, Janja da Silva.

At one point, when mentioning the presence of Cida Gonçalves on stage, Lula commented on the demand he faces from the first lady for her administration to have more women in leadership positions.

“This thing that unions are a man’s thing, politics is a man’s thing, is over,” says the president, adding that he is under pressure from Janja to change that. “I have a woman at home, she can’t see a picture of me with only men, she gets pissed at me, she gets pissed at Stuckert. And sometimes it’s true. There’s still domination at the tables. Most of them are man in the things we do. It’s something we have to learn”, says the president.

“Women are increasingly conquering spaces. Spaces in the world of work, spaces in the world of politics, spaces in the world of culture, spaces in the world of science”, says Lula, who highlights the need for women to gain more opportunities ” outside the kitchen”, while partners must do the opposite, sharing domestic services, as a “solidarity counterpart”.

After Lula’s almost 30-minute speech, he passes the microphone to the first lady, while doing an imitation of her saying that if he didn’t pass the speech on to his wife, she would say to him: “Well, man, only man spoke!”. As he takes the microphone, Janja says while smiling that “it’s not true.”

The first lady highlighted in her speech that the first year of government was one of “reconstruction”, stating that both Lula and she are “tired” and need to “rest a little”. Janja’s speech lasted just over three minutes, with her passing the microphone to Lula who joked “Hey, don’t you want to put down the microphone? Put down the microphone, man”.

During Lula’s speech, points were raised about the need for an energy change in Brazil, so that bills are cheaper for the poorest people, about the importance of collectors in preserving the environment and the measures being taken to housing construction.