Desmistifying the under-representation of women in the Brazilian labor market: a study of ADI 6039 and its interaction with structural and institutional discrimination

Abstract

This article presents the judgment handed down by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in a precautionary measure in ADI 6039, which dealt with art. 1, §3 of Rio de Janeiro State Law no. 8.008/2018, which expressly provided for the obligation for female sexual victims to be examined by a female coroner when they were underage. The aim of the article is to analyze the background to this ruling, which is limited to the role of structural and institutional discrimination in the smaller presence of women in the Brazilian labor market, working in various areas, such as medical examiners. The article presents the results of the research, exposing the damage caused by this lower representation of women, which prevented technical examinations from being carried out to verify sexual violence against children and adolescents in the state of Rio de Janeiro/Brazil and, consequently, the perpetrators of the violence from being punished. Finally, suggestions are made to mitigate the effects of the problem of the under-representation of women in the Brazilian labor market.