Advances and setbacks of women's participation in the Brazilian labor market in the 1920s/40s/50s: what changed between pre- and post-World War II?

The investigation about the causes, evolution and consequences of the difficulties of female insertion in the formal labor market has been arousing growing academic interest at least since the 1970s. In the context of this theme, this article analyzes the advance of women's participation in the Brazilian labor market between the 1920s and 1940s and its subsequent decline in the 1950s. We examine three hypotheses to try to understand the phenomenon, namely: the changes in the economy brought about by the Second World War, the waveof Brazilian industrialization promoted between 1930 and 1945, and the influence of patriarchy and machismo present in Brazilian post-war society. Our intention is to contribute to filling a gap in studies involving women's work in Brazil, especially in the first half of the 20th century, which will allow comparisons with other times and countries.