Gender and public policy: an overview of academic research in Brazil (1983- 2015)

Abstract Public policy for gender equality arose in Brazil in the 1980s. It has gained relevance since 2003, due to the institutionalization of the Secretariat of Policies for Women. However, it does not mean that there is a consolidated research agenda on gender and public policy themes in the country. This article aims to investigate how those themes have been incorporated, in an articulated manner, by academic research in Brazil. To do this, 349 articles available on the SCIELO and SPELL platforms between 1983 and 2015 were analyzed. From this analysis, a heterogeneous set of studies was identified, classified according to a typology built from the standards of incorporation of gender and public policy issues. Each type analysis took also into consideration: distribution of authorship; knowledge areas and the journals where the articles were published; themes and the population segments studied; and methodological approaches applied. It is argued that there is not a constituted research field on that subject, but rather points of convergence between the gender studies and the public policy field. This study aims to contribute to the development of a research agenda which articulates those two fields, and to assist other research based on different periods and data sources, through the methodology developed.