Why Brazilians Are Mocking Michel Temer's Women's Day Speech

Brazilian President Michel Temer delivered a speech Wednesday at his presidential palace in Brasilia in honor of International Women’s Day, highlighting the accomplishments of Brazilian women since the country’s independence in 1822, saying that the South American country did not treat women “like second-class citizens.”

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And then things took a turn for the worst.

“He lost the opportunity to remain silent,” Workers’ Party Senator Gleisi Hoffman said, according to HispanTV. “We were shocked by the rest of the president's speech.”

Like Hoffman, millions of Brazilians were aghast at what he said next.

“Nobody is more capable of pointing out the imbalances in, let's say, supermarket prices than women,” Temer said.

“Nobody is more capable of detecting eventual economic fluctuation than women since they monitor the increases and decreases of their home's budgets.”

By now, you’ve probably realized what’s wrong here — Temer chose to honor International Women’s Day by praising women for their shopping and housekeeping skills.

Forget about the millions of women in Brazil and around the world who’ve discovered cures for diseases, designed groundbreaking technology, fought for human rights and won Olympic medals. No, women's talents in supermarkets and households are more worthy of being mentioned, according to Temer.

To make matters worse, he thanked his partner Marcela Temer and all Brazilian women for everything they do “in the house, in the home and for their children.”

“It is necessary for women to come together to react to the advances of neoliberal politics against democracy,” former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff tweeted shortly after Temer's speech.

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“I think Michel Temer used the Women’s Day speech that Marechal Deodoro left forgotten in the drawer,” journalist Alexandra Moraes wrote on Twitter, referencing Brazil’s first official president who ruled from 1889 to 1891.

This isn’t the first time Temer has come under fire for his patriarchal tendencies. The right-wing leader was criticized last August for appointing an all-male cabinet after helping to oust Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman president.

He was also slammed by women’s rights organizations around the world for shutting down Brazil’s Ministry of Women while cutting funds for programs aimed at promoting gender equality.

Marcela Temer, who only spoke for about two minutes at the International Women’s Day press conference, was described by Temer as a “beautiful, maidenlike housewife” in a 2016 interview.