BRAZIL: Women Not Wanted

The nine black-caped judges of the federal court of appeals in Rio pondered an age-old question: Are men and women equal? The question had been raised again by pretty Maria Sandra Cordeiro de Mello, 21-year-old daughter of a wealthy army colonel. Ambitious to be a diplomat, Maria Sandra had appealed a lower court ruling which held that the government may exclude women from its diplomatic service.

The learned appeals judges quoted Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche and Rousseau on the inequality of the sexes. When Maria’s lawyer (a woman) cited such examples of U.S. stateswomen as Health, Education & Welfare Secretary Oveta Gulp Hobby and Ambassador Clare Boothe Luce, one judge replied: “The capacity and intelligence of Mrs. Luce do not apply to the case of a Brazilian woman.” In the end, the judges denied Maria Sandra’s appeal. But friends in Parliament were trying to push through bills to admit women to the foreign service. The Foreign Office recommended to President Getulio Vargas that the ban against women be dropped, and allowed Maria Sandra to study at its special training school for diplomats (whose entrance exams she had passed with flying colors). Said she: “I am in love with the Foreign Office . . . It’s no use being mad at the judges—that wouldn’t be diplomatic.”