This indigenous lawyer has made history as the first native woman ever to be elected to Brazil’s congress. She faces a host of obstacles – but is used to overcoming challenges

Joênia Wapichana was the first person in her family to go to university, the first to study law and the first to qualify as a barrister. Now she has become Brazil’s first indigenous congresswoman. Born in Roraima – Brazil’s northernmost state, deep in the Amazon rainforest – to the Wapichana tribe from which she gets her name, she attended a small public school in the reservation where her family lived. After graduating from high school, she worked as an office manager by day, while studying law by night. By 1997, at the age of just 23, Wapichana had qualified as the first female indigenous lawyer in Brazil. Her credentials sit in stark contrast to those of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s new president. He is a figurehead for the far right and is known for treating women, minorities and indigenous groups particularly poorly.

A roundup of the essential Positive News stories in your inbox each week Sign up for our newsletter

Since qualifying as a lawyer, Wapichana has made a name for herself internationally as a human rights lawyer and conservationist. In 2018, she won the UN Human Rights Prize for her work to end violence against indigenous peoples in northern Brazil. For decades, they have been persecuted for not giving up their ancestral lands to powerful agribusiness companies. “I see myself as a pioneer,” she says, speaking to Positive News from her home in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima. “I was the first female indigenous lawyer in Brazil, the first to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court and the first to receive this award from the UN. I’m opening these doors so that other women, other people of colour, can follow me. This is my responsibility.” The UN prize came just as Wapichana was wrapping up her successful campaign for public office. Out of the 131 native candidates running in governor, senator and congress races, Wapichana was the only one to win nationwide.

I’m opening these doors so that other women, other people of colour, can follow me