Dayse Paparoto has been celebrated as a feminist hero after shrugging off boorish behaviour from male competitors who even told her to sweep the floor

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The winner of Brazil’s MasterChef Professionals show has been hailed as a feminist hero after shrugging off sexist comments and boorish behaviour from her male competitors who ignored her suggestions, undermined her abilities – and on one occasion even told her to sweep the floor.

The victory for Dayse Paparoto, 32, from Mogi das Cruzes in the interior of São Paulo state was seen as vindication by Brazilians angry over what they saw as sexist, condescending treatment meted out to her by the male competitors.

It was the latest in a series of episodes when social media has provided an outlet for frustration over Brazilian machismo.



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“You’re our warrior,” tweeted one viewer after Paparoto was crowned winner on Tuesday night.

Brazilian media reported her male contestants were downcast after her win. One, Ivo Lopes, had even once been her boss. At one point during the competition, Lopes had said: “Working with a woman in the kitchen is a little more delicate, I’ll be realistic. She ends up being a little more fragile.”

Many Brazilians were appalled – and took to social media to show it. One widely shared tweet joked that the Paparoto’s main dish would be “fragile sexist in a soup of tears”.

A video compilation of the worst moments Paparoto endured has been watched 12m times on Facebook. Her frustration was palpable as the men failed in tasks because they had brushed aside her suggestions or flatly ignored her. It included the moment when Lopes told her to “get a broom and sweep the floor”.



“Respect the girls,” posted Bia Varanis, who shared the video.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dayse Paparoto holds up her trophy after winning MasterChef Professionals in Brazil. Photograph: Carlos Reinis

In one interview from the programme featured on the Facebook video compilation, Paparoto addressed the issue.

“In a man’s mind, to go to the final against another man, OK. But to go to the final with a woman, the possibility to lose to a woman, I think it gets to them, it’s a little embarrassing, for them,” she said.

But despite the reaction from viewers, Paparoto told the Guardian she did not feel she faced sexism on the show.

“I don’t see myself as a feminist,” she said. “I think there is sexism in any place in the world, not just in Brazil, not just in the kitchen, not in the office. It is everywhere.”

Paparoto said she was surprised to win.

“I am a little insecure as a person,” she said, adding that for the time being she plans to keep working at São Paulo’s Feed Food restaurant, which shared photos of her holding the trophy on its Facebook.

“It is not an easy profession,” Paparoto, who has been a chef for 14 years, added. “You have to handle a lot of pressure.”

Brazilian women – and also men – are increasingly using social media to challenge the sexism rooted in this deeply conservative and traditional society.

In 2014, after many Brazilians said in a survey that women wearing revealing clothing were to blame for sexual assaults, tens of thousands posted photos online with the slogan “I don’t deserve to be raped”.

The following year, Brazil’s MasterChef programme also provoked online outrage from Brazilian women after men posted lewd comments on social media about a 12-year-old girl contestant. Tens of thousands shared experiences of sexual harassment and abuse they had suffered as children and teenagers, using the hashtag #primeiroassédio (first harassment).