Redistribution of Brazil's Budget by Women Federal Deputies: An Analysis Based on Mandatory Individual Budgetary Amendments (2022–2025)

Recent legal and institutional reforms in Brazil have granted federal legislators greater autonomy in decisions concerning the reallocation of resources within the national budget. Regulations introduced between 2022 and 2025 regarding parliamentary budget amendments (Emendas Parlamentares Orçamentárias - EPOs) established mandatory approval of these amendments, allowing individual federal representatives to directly influence the allocation of a portion of public funds. This study investigates the substantive representation undertaken by Brazilian women federal deputies within the new legal-institutional framework. While acknowledging enduring concerns regarding the allocation, execution, and oversight of public expenditures in this new context, the article argues that EPOs may broaden the scope of action for representatives who are not part of traditional political elites: those with limited access to resources and to the decision-making arenas that shape rights and public policies through other channels. Against this backdrop, the research conducts a quantitative analysis of the EPOs proposed by women federal deputies serving between 2022 and 2025, examining whether they activated this instrument, which policy sectors received priority, and which sociopolitical cleavages influenced their allocation choices. Drawing on empirical studies of the legislative behavior of the women federal deputies, the analysis is guided by two hypotheses: (i) female deputies employ individual mandatory EPOs in ways consistent with their broader legislative activity, prioritizing programs and agendas related to women’s rights, social rights, and human rights; and (ii) significant intragroup variation exists in the use of this instrument, reflecting markers that shape their representational profiles, including political party, region of origin, race/ethnicity, previous occupation, number of terms served, age, and marital status.