In 2021, a woman was raped every 10 minutes in Brazil, according to a United Nations report. There were more than 1,400 femicides registered in Brazil in 2022, according to G1, a Brazilian news network. The numbers are frightening and worrying, women of all ages are at risk of being harassed, assaulted, raped, or killed.
Brazil is one of the countries that suffers the most violent harassment against women. Some of these types of violence include: psychological violence, swearing, threatening, frightening, or property violence, controlling the women’s life as well as what she likes. Another type of violence is verbal violence, that some of us might not recognize as violence, such as offensive comments, and publicly humiliating the woman by exposing their intimate life to others. These are some of the many types of physical and sexual violence women experience in their everyday life in Brazil. Unfortunately not even little girls are excluded from those types of violence, as it might happen to anyone no matter what kind of skin color, body sizes, or sexuality.
I think that at this point, from everything you’ve read, you must be asking yourself, “But in a country with such huge rates, isn’t there a law so that these rates can be reduced and bring more security to Brazilian women?” Yes, we do indeed have a law, called The Maria da Penha Law, named in honor of a woman who suffered an attempted murder by her ex-husband. The law was approved in 2006 with the aim of punishing aggressors more rigorously.
But, we can do more to protect women in Brazil. In Brazil we have the phone number 180, which is a number that women can call that directs them to a call center for women’s assistance. Yet sometimes the response times from the center are very slow, as the number of reports is very large at all times. We need more help to equip these centers. I also believe there should be better training for police officers and people involved in these cases, because sometimes, because of machismo, policemen might not take women seriously or question whether a situation is actually dangerous. Showing support is very important in helping survivors feel safe. There should also be stronger consequences for offenders. We can also work to prevent harassment and assault. We Should have classes in school and in the community that provide self-defense training so women know how to defend themselves, and also classes to teach boys how to treat women and girls better and the consequences of acts like these and the importance of women in society.
Brazil has to understand that the problem is not the creation of laws, but the training of adults and kids to care about this issue.
Emanuely Vivian Ferreira, 17, was born in Espirito Santo, Brazil. She is a junior at Lowell High School. She likes to write poems thinking about life and love. Emanuely hopes to study fashion and open a fashion studio.