Major Nations in a Global World: Brazil

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CHAPTER

Family and Friends

I n 2011, an earthquake struck Brazil. This was no ordinary tremor, but a seismic shift in the country’s political and cultural landscape. Dilma Rousseff was inaugurated as Brazil’s first woman president. Never before had a modern Brazilian woman reached such heights: her achievement underscored the great strides women have made in Brazil and the shifting dynamics of the Brazilian family. When Rousseff was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, most Brazilian fam- ilies were traditional, comprised of a wife, a husband, and children. The husband was financially responsible for the family, while the wife took care of all the domes-

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CHAPTER TWO: FAMILY AND FRIENDS