A small but strategically important group of evangelical women linked to Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT) is trying to build bridges between the left and a religious electorate long seen as hostile to Lula’s political camp. The discussion gained visibility after first lady Janja da Silva criticized pastor Silas Malafaia for dismissing the women she met in a 2025 gathering at the Coletivação church in Ceilândia, in the Federal District. Janja said the insult was aimed not only at her but at women who are central to their families, churches, and communities. Malafaia argued that his comments had been taken out of context and said there is a difference between women without public influence and women who are socially significant in their homes and congregations.
The episode highlights a broader political effort by evangelical women who support, or are sympathetic to, the PT and other progressive forces. They reject the idea that being evangelical automatically means being conservative and want to challenge the image of evangelical churches as a political monopoly of leaders aligned with bolsonarism. Many of these women are black, low-income, and deeply connected to church life, but they also live the daily realities of work, commuting, caregiving, violence, and limited access to public services. Their message is that faith and progressive values are not incompatible.
Among the names gaining prominence is Nilza Valéria Zacarias, an author, adviser to the presidency, and a close friend of Janja. Nilza has helped organize meetings with evangelical women across Brazil to identify the barriers they see in progressive politics and to listen to their concerns. She argues that the Bible must also be read from a female perspective and says Christian tradition itself gives women a central role. According to her, the growing partisanship inside churches has begun to produce fatigue among believers, and pastors who turn sermons into campaign speeches risk losing members.
Another voice is Dagmar Santos, a mother, grandmother, social work student, and PT activist who lives next to a strongly bolsonarist congregation in Bahia. She says many believers are influenced by pastors who use religion to push political interests and distort the Bible through a macho and oppressive lens. For Dagmar, the left has often failed to connect with churchgoers because it has not spoken effectively to the base and has sometimes relied on themes that are easy for conservatives to weaponize.
The meeting also pointed to practical issues that matter to evangelical women: combating feminicide and domestic violence, reducing maternal mortality, addressing food insecurity, and expanding access to day care and schools. Aava Santiago, a councilwoman in Goiânia, said these are the daily realities that shape women’s lives far more than ideological debates. She warned that the left should not fall into traps set by the far right, which often turns issues such as abortion and LGBTQIA+ rights into political weapons. For many evangelical women, she said, the priorities remain jobs, children, family time, and public services.
