Woman of tomorrow: a critical reading of Dilma Rousseff political and institutional trajectory

Abstract

The study critically analyzes the political and institutional trajectory of Dilma Rousseff, examining her historical relevance as a symbol of resistance in Brazil’s democratic consolidation. The central question investigates to what extent her actions, from militancy against the civil-military dictatorship to her presidency of the New Development Bank (NDB/BRICS), reflect structural tensions among memory, democracy, and gender inequality. The hypothesis adopted is that Rousseff’s political experience embodies a continuous process of resistance which, despite attempts at erasure and delegitimization, particularly during the 2016 impeachment, reaffirms the role of memory as an instrument of institutional reconstruction. This qualitative and exploratory research is based on bibliographical review and documentary analysis of academic, institutional, and journalistic sources. The results indicate that Rousseff’s trajectory transcends the biographical field, constituting a narrative of democratic reconstruction and reconfiguration of female power spaces. It concludes that the “woman of tomorrow” represents the persistence of political resistance as a form of active memory and the projection of a new paradigm of female leadership in the national and globais arenas.