Ruth Vilaça Correia Leite Cardoso (September 19, 1930 to June 24, 2008) was a Brazilian anthropologist and a former member of the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Humanities at the University of São Paulo.
She was the wife of 34th president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and First Lady of her country between January 1st 1995 to January 1st 2003.
She held a PHD in anthropology from the USP.
Dr. Cardoso´s academic reputation rests primarily on a series of highly influential articles and book chapters on popular movements and political participation that she published in 80's and 90's. Under Dr Cardoso it was created the first research group on social movements, helping to legitimate formal academic study of the "new" (non class ) social movements that had emerged in the 70's.
At the same time, she was careful to stress the limits of identity- based and popular movements for political transformation, noting the divisions among them and their frequent dependency on clientelistic relations with the state and political parties.
Unlike many academics, Dr Cardoso also had the opportunity to put some of her theories into practice after her husband was elected president. She transformed the traditional charity approach of other first ladies with her "Comunidade Solidária" programs that stressed the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in state-society patnerships.
In addition to executing concrete social programs,the Comunidade Solidária also facilitated broad discussions of important social topics, from agrarian reform to the legal status of NGOs, publishing the results of these dialogues.
Anthony Hall of the London School of Economics told the BBC, after her death, that she was developing the plan to bundle various social programs together in the way that has become characteristic of the successful Bolsa Familia social program. She published a book about these experiences, Comunidade Solidária: fortalecendo a sociedade, promovendo o desenvolvimento(Comunitas, 2002).
She transformed the Comunidade Solidária into an NGO, Comunitas, after her husband left Office.
