Zanin authorizes return of Rio PM contest with end of quota for women

The minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Cristiano Zanin validated an agreement that guarantees the resumption of the public competition for the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro (PMERJ) this Thursday, 16th. With the decision, the next stages of the competition can continue , and women must compete for widely competitive positions.

The magistrate had suspended the competition last month. At the time, the minister accepted a request from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), which claimed to be against the quota that limited the number of vacancies for women to 10%. The competition, which had tests administered in August, was then suspended.

The agreement for the resumption was approved after a conciliation hearing between the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio de Janeiro, PMERJ and the Legislative Assembly of Rio. In the minister’s opinion, the rules in the notice that guaranteed the quotas contravened the constitutional principles of gender equality.

According to the rules of the suspended notice, of the 2,000 vacancies offered by the corporation, only 200 could be occupied by women. Taking into account criteria of race and social vulnerability, non-quota women would compete for 140 vacancies, while black and indigenous women for 40 vacancies and those in situations of economic vulnerability would have 20 reserved vacancies. Men competed for 1,800 vacancies.

This is not the first time that the minister has suspended a public Military Police competition for this reason. In September, Zanin accepted a suspension request made by the Workers’ Party (PT) against the Federal District Military Police (PMDF) competition, which limited female participation in the corporation’s staff to 10%.