The Republican Women’s Party was created in 1910 under the leadership of Leolinda Daltro, to represent women in Brazilian political society and from the conviction that women’s suffrage was the first step towards this achievement. In 1917, the party was reorganised and adopted a more combative posture that culminated in episodes such as the march through the centre of Rio de Janeiro, which was heavily repressed and attracted the attention of the press. The organisation focused on women’s literacy and promoted women’s schools and educational initiatives in public city squares.
The Brazilian Federation for Women’s Progress (FBPF), in turn, was founded in 1922 and led by Bertha Lutz, and its primary objective was to guarantee women the right to vote. The idea was that, after obtaining their political rights, women would be able to make more complex demands, which directly affected their independence. Although the FBPF presented itself as an organisation with a national outreach, it was mainly composed of white women from urban areas, which kept its agenda aligned with this group. Despite mentioning women workers in its statutes, the organisation’s centralised structure restricted the participation of working-class women and those from other social contexts, such as black, indigenous or rural women.