Number of women elected to Brazil’s Congress rises

In Brazil's upcoming legislative session, the number of women elected to the lower house and the Senate will reach record highs. In the lower house, the count of women elected surged by 21 percent, from 90 in 2022 to 109 in the forthcoming election. Despite a decline in female candidates, with 2,820 women running in 2026 compared to 3,317 in 2022, this increase marks a historic milestone.

In the Senate, twelve women were elected to the 54 seats up for grabs, marking the highest number since the military dictatorship ended in 1985. Previously, in 2018, only eight women were elected during a time when two-thirds of the Senate were also up for election. Therefore, the number of female senators will increase from the current fifteen to eighteen next year, comprising roughly 22.2 percent of the 81 seats.

Nonetheless, women still constitute a minority in both houses of Congress. In the lower house, they will account for 21 percent of the 513 representatives. Notably, the coalition comprising the Workers' Party (PT), the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), and the Green Party (PV) secured the largest share of women elected, with 34 out of the 109 positions.

In the Senate, although no black female candidate was elected, the number of black women elected to the lower house has risen by 66.6 percent, from nine in 2022 to fifteen in 2026. Tainah Pereira, political coordinator of Mulheres Negras Decidem, an organization focusing on black women in politics, celebrates this progress and highlights the potential for positive change, despite the risk of elected women advocating for patriarchal perspectives on economic policies.