Pioneer in female public management:

dean, pro-dean, and coordinator of the Veterinary Medicine course, UFRPE 1998-2020

Abstract

The article brings to light the pioneering spirit of women in higher education and in the management of a public university in the state of Pernambuco. Its objective was the historical rescue of the Institution in the dialogue with the history of women, which led to the record of the trajectory of the rector Maria José de Sena, a speech narrated from the history of women and the female voices about her rectorate. Of a qualitative research, it used documentary, oral, theoretical sources and a semi-structured interview.  Based in feminist theory and recorded the memory of higher education in Pernambuco, of teaching Agricultural Sciences, of Brazilian women's access to education and the obstacles faced by women in accessing and permanence of spaces of power and decision arising from the patriarchal model. Some institutional obstacles are called “glass ceiling” and “crystal labyrinth” and currently remain difficult to overcome. The results show achievements made by women over the last century and demonstrate victories of the feminist movement's struggle in Brazil and in the world for public policies of access to social rights for women. Added to these achievements, in the midst of advances and setbacks, is the importance given to the education and training of women; women's access to power and leadership; institutional mechanisms that guarantee women's rights to work; human rights for women and girls.