Dr. Malu A.C. Gatto 2018

«My four-month stay at the Wilson Center provided many of opportunities for research and policy collaboration that helped me develop my work in exciting directions and reach new audiences. I am grateful to the Europa Institute for the opportunity and the Swiss Embassy in DC for the local support.» 

During my time at the Wilson Center, I conducted research for a new research project (provisionally) titled, «Establishing Women in the Anti-Establishment Era,» which seeks to understand the changing dynamics of women’s political representation when traditional political elites are distrusted. Envisioned as a comparative study of the United States and Brazil, I was able to combine my in-depth case knowledge of Brazil with the resources and connections of the Wilson Center to begin developing the theoretical work for the project. Gwen Young, Amy Bataglia, and the interns of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative were particularly helpful in providing me feedback and suggestions, as well as in helping me with my research of organizations promoting women’s candidacies in the United States. The Wilson Center’s connections also helped me gain access to observing the training programs hosted by local organizations that offer training to women and girls who aspire to run for office.

I also utilized my time as a Swiss Scholar to participate in Wilson Center activities, engage with the Swiss academic community in Washington, DC, as well as communicate with the broader academic and policy communities in DC and beyond. This included speaking at the event “Will Women Decide the Brazilian Election? The Potential Impact of Female Voters and Candidates,” co-hosted by the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute and the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and attended by academics, representatives of other think tanks, NGOs, and governments (video); as well as giving a talk for the program “Women in Leadership: Removing Barriers and Bias,” organized by the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Program.

During my stay, I also gave a number of interviews/was quoted in multiple news articles covering women’s voting behavior and political representation in the upcoming Brazilian elections: 

  • Financial Times (01/10/2018)
  • BBC (26/09/2018)
  • Zero Hora (13/09/2018) 
  • El País (23/08/2018)  
  • El País (16/08/2018)  
  • Deutsche Welle (15/08/2018)
  • BBC (22/06/2018)
  • Exame (14/06/2018), published in English by the Wilson Center
  • Based on our individual and co-authored work presented at the Wilson Center event, Kristin Wylie, Pedro dos Santos, and I wrote a piece that was published in The Washington Post’s The Monkey Cage - a peer-reviewed blog that publishes work from political sciences for broader public consumption (see here).