13. Body Politics, Human Rights and Public Policies in Brazil: In Conversation with Jacqueline Pitanguy

In the following extended interview Jacqueline Pitanguy shares her views on body politics and human rights in public policies in Brazil with the editor of Bodies in Resistance, Wendy Harcourt. Jacqueline Pitanguy has played a key role in Brazilian feminist politics. From 1986 to 1989 she held a cabinet position as President of the National Council for Women’s Rights (CNDM), designing and implementing public policies to improve conditions for women in Brazil. The CNDM played a key role in assuring woman’s rights in the new Brazilian Constitution and in developing programs in the areas of reproductive health, violence, legislation, labor rights, culture and education, and black and rural women rights. In 1990, she founded Citizenship, Studies, Information and Action (CEPIA), an NGO based in Rio de Janeiro. CEPIA conducts research and does advocacy work mainly on reproductive health, violence against women (VAW) and access to justice.