ABSTRACT
The article identifies five key moments in Brazil’s recent history related to family policies mapping both the continuities and changes in the last 30 years, as well as the possibility that policies may coexist in ways that either strengthen or weaken familialism and gender stereotypes. To address the proposed questions, this article adopts a traditional qualitative methodology, focusing on content analysis of documents outlining policy norms. These documents include guidelines on actions, monetary transfers, and services for families. The expansion of this agenda and the institutionalisation of these policies were slow processes, marked by various instances of institutional change and heavily influenced by the ideologies shaping the federal government’s political projects. We analysed these incremental changes using the typology proposed by Mahoney and Thelen. The findings show the centrality of families defined as the primary unit of intervention expanding the scope of family-friendly policies.