Sao Paulo Cultural Specialist Maria Estela Correa Receives Ruth Cardoso Medal

Sao Paulo

Maria Estela Correa receives Ruth Cardoso Medal

Maria Estela Correa at the podium

On March 24th, the stars brightly lit the night sky over the Palacio dos Bandeirantes.  But it was inside that PAS Sao Paulo’s true star shone brightest as Maria Estela Segatto Correa was honored with the Ruth Cardoso Medal for her decades of brilliant and broad-ranging work on women’s issues.

The Ruth Cardoso Medal, which is awarded to commemorate International Women’s Day, was presented to Maria Estela, who took her well-deserved place alongside five other recipients for 2011 as well as with the 18 others who have been honored since 2008.  The Medal is named for the former First Lady of Brazil, whose activities did so much to raise the prestige of women in the country, and celebrates the active participation of individuals and institutions in the fight for women’s rights

Maria Estela was cited for her many years of programming and networking in Sao Paulo, which enhanced the roles and goals of women within Brazilian society, and supported the participation of women in politics, education, health, law and business.  It was her enormous involvement in so many nascent groups in the State and Consular District that helped give birth to non-governmental organizations, which have had great importance in the process of empowering women. 

Maria Estela was a founder of the NGO Elas por Elas, which grew out of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, and led the Brazilian participants at the Latin American Symposium in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.  She also played a key role in creating the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons within the Secretariat of Justice, a worldwide model for other countries confronting this issue.

From the podium, Maria Estela modestly shared the honor with her colleagues in the Consulate but especially thanked “the many notable women – and men – with whom I have developed so many partnerships, strong women’s organizations encompassing civil society, educational, cultural and governmental entities, who are equally deserving of recognition, not just me.”

Others receiving the Medal for 2011 were: The Instituto Avon;  journalist Mara Luquet; Moacyr Roberto Tesche Auersvald, director and president of CONTRATUH; Regina Helena Chueire, Municipal Secretary for Women’s Rights in São José do Rio Preto); and Sueli Carneiro, anti-racist activist in the Social Movement for Black Brazilians.