The political dimensions of women's participation in Brazil's base Christian communities (CEBs): A longitudinal case study from Sao Paulo

Using data obtained over a nine-year period from the metropolitan Sao Paulo area, this paper examines the contribution of Brazilian Catholic base Christian communities (comunidades eclesiais de base-CEBs) to enhanced intra-group political activation and awareness among women members. The study shows that through their various activities, the CEBs over time have offered women opportunities for empowerment within the context of their own groups. Nevertheless, initial differences observed between women and men in terms of enhanced political awareness and the propensity to internal activism do, however, appear to persist over time. This finding, which suggests a somewhat circumscribed contribution of the CEBs to women's empowerment at the group level, is subsequently explained not only in terms of possible constraints to women's involvement in the more political dimensions of group life, but also with reference to the different ways women and men, respectively, may perceive of their CEB-related roles and responsibilities.