Gender equality

In 1998, Congress approved Amendment 20 to the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988, thereby altering the country’s social security system. The amendment imposed a ceiling of R$1200 on social security benefits per beneficiary. On its face, the R$1200 maximum purported to apply neutrally to several benefits categories, including with respect to pregnancy-related leave.

Gurulingappa Savadi was the head of a Hindu joint (intergenerational) family who died in 2001. In 2002, his grandson brought a suit to partition the family property, alleging that only Mr. Savadi’s widow and two sons were co-owners of the property upon Mr. Savadi’s death. The suit asserted that Mr. Savadi’s two married daughters were not entitled to any share of the property, since they were born prior to the Hindu Succession Act (codified customary/personal law), and therefore could not be treated as coparceners (persons who share jointly with others in an inheritance).

Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Maria Nweke was asked to vacate her house by her late husband’s father on the ground that she had no male child in the house. Mrs. Nweke brought this case claiming that according to the customs of the Awka people, a woman inherits the property of her husband regardless of whether she has a male child. The defendants/appellants, who are Mrs.

The appellant was a married woman who left her family home with her two young children because she felt her husband treated her as less than human. He yelled at her, withheld finances, and made her afraid he would hit her or take the children away. She went to the local housing authority for help finding accommodation. As her husband had never hit her or threatened to physically harm her, the housing authority refused to assist her. They believed that because there was no physical violence, it was reasonable for her to stay in the home.