Idalina Mantovani

Idalina Rodrigues Mantovani ( November 29, 1940 ) is a pedagogue, former “Second Lady” of São Bernardo do Campo and ex-wife of brazilian politician Djalma Bom (1939)

Early life

Born in Alvares Machado, a small city in the country side of São Paulo, Idalina is the youngest daughter of Spanish farmer Jeronimo Rodrigues (1895-1953) and Santina Mantovani (1896-1974).

At the sudden death of her father when she was 13, her mother moved downtown with the two youngest daughters and later to São Paulo.

Marriage and family

Idalina was introduced to Djalma by her friend Diva who was his sister. After three years dating, the couple got married on December 19th, 1964.

They bought a house in São Bernardo do Campo. In September 1965 their first son Douglas was born followed by the birth of their daughter Mara in 1968. The Bom family settled for a quiet life: he went to work at Mercedes-Benz while she stayed at home with the small children. But soon their life would change as Djalma became a member of the board of the Steel Worker’s Union in 1978 together with Luis Inácio Lula da Silva then on the road to become an important leader.

Political Wife

In the late 1970s, Lula, Djalma and other leaders helped organize major union activities including huge strikes. These strikes were not seen under favorable light by the military government and they were jailed for a month in may 1980.

In 1982 a group of academics, union leaders such as Lula and Djalma, and intellectuals, founded the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) or Workers' Party, a left-wing party with progressive ideas created in the midst of the military dictatorship.

Around this period, Idalina then a shy housewife, emerged as an outspoken and supportive wife helping her husband through good and bad times and also during the campaigns. In the elections of 1982 Djalma was elected with 165.000 votes for a seat in Congress in Brasilia and in 1988, he became the Vice-Mayor of São Bernardo do Campo.

Though she helped her husband attenting social functions and foreign trips (Cuba and Nicaragua in 1984) the couple’s relations began deteriorating and they separated in 1989. One of her last appearances before leaving the political arena was during the cerimony in which Djalma was to take over the office of Mayor of City for a brief time. He would be elected again in 1994 for the Legislative Assembly in São Paulo and retire after this tenure.

Life Today

After the separation, Idalina decided to pursue her own interests: she furthered her education and received a University degree in 1993 in pedagogy; she taught during sometime and worked with underpriveleged children before retiring.

Admired and respected by the local people in the city for her work, courage and dignity, mainly during the years of opression, she no longer takes parts in political events but admits she is rather pleased to see her old “friend Lula” running the country.

References

[http://www.fundacaoperseuabramo.org.br/especiais/greve80/djalmabom.htm] [http://www.bancariosrio.org.br/noticias.php?id=923] [http://www2.correioweb.com.br/cw/EDICAO_20021028/pri_tem_281002_66.htm]