Excluded Identities - The Suppression of the Subject ‘Promotion of Gender and Sexual Orientation Equality’ from the Brazilian National Educational Plan - PNE

The Brazilian National Education Plan (PNE) implemented by the federal law number 13.005/2014, established the guidelines and goals for the educational system in the country for the period of 10 years to come (2014/2024). The initial text of the plan proposed by the executive and forwarded to the federal chamber of deputies, included matters of gender identities and diversity as a mandatory subject to be approached in primary schools. However, when the plan reached the senate for deliberation, this particular section was target of a colossal amount of criticism leading up to the exclusion of that particular paragraph from the national plan before it entered into force. As consequence, the faculty of making it mandatory the approach or not to gender questions in primary education was delegated to the states and municipalities and very few of them decided to include it in their local plans, following the federal congress’ understanding. The shattering criticism came mainly from the religious bench in the congress, based on the claims that making it mandatory for gender to be approached at early (if any) ages at school, would wrench concepts of “men” and “women”, tearing apart the Brazilian “traditional” model of family. The deputies against the inclusion used very gendered and masculine praised discourses and characterised the attempt to include the matter as ‘insidious gender ideology’, claiming that the ultimate aim was to turn innocent children into homosexuals. The original text of the plan (law project, article 2) had defined as one of the most important goals for the policy: the ‘overcoming of educational inequalities, emphasising the promotion of racial, regional, gender and sexual orientation equality’ but the congress suppressed the terms “gender” and “sexual orientation” from it. Gender matters get very little attention from teachers in Brazil, most of which still do not have eyes well enough trained to see gendered power dimensions on the day to day at school. The initial proposal of the PNE aimed at changing that. It aimed at shedding light on the subject, bringing gender to the discussions in the classroom instead of turning a blind eye on the topic. It aimed at disassociating diversity from anomaly and demystifying that everything that escapes the traditional social discourses of what it means to be a woman or a man should not exist. Joan Scott wisely suggests that Gender constructs politics and politics constructs gender, it is not possible to ignore the influence that one have in the production of the other, both ways. This is a setback in for the educational system and exposes how much influence religion and patriarchy still have on policy-making in Brazil in the midst of the 21st century.