It's a startling statistic: One in five Brazilian women are likely to suffer from domestic violence. That includes physical, psychological, and emotional abuse as well as marital rape. The aggressor is usually a boyfriend, husband, ex-partner, or male family member.
In light of the problem, an online campaign launched earlier this year is challenging “real men” to show their solidarity against domestic violence.
The World Bank with the participation of the Maria da Penha Fernandes Institute [pt] among other Brazilian women's right movements and societies launched a campaign [pt] in March 2013 called “Real men don't beat women” (Homem De Verdade Não Bate Em Mulher).
Brazilian athletes, actors, and society members joined the action on the World Bank Brasil's Facebook page to inspire Brazilians to speak out against domestic violence in Brazil. They joined on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posting self-pics holding a sign featuring the campaign slogan under the hashtag #souhomemdeverdade, which in Portuguese means “I‘m a real man“.
“Every four minutes a woman is killed by domestic violence in Brazil”, according to the figure presented in a state meeting of the public prosecutor's office in Rio Grande do Sul in March 2013:
The numbers are frightening. (…) This is the main cause of death for women between 16 and 44 years. Of these crimes, 99 percent are caused by jealousy and possessiveness; 77 percent of conflicts occur after a break-up.
The Map of Violence 2012 (Mapa da Violência de 2012) [pt, PDF] reports that 91,930 women were murdered in Brazil between 1980 and 2010. On average, there were 4.5 women killed for every 100,000 women, with Espírito Santo, Alagoas, and Paraná states having the highest rates.
A special edition of the report dedicated to feminicide in Brazil [pt, PDF], concludes that “68.8 percent of the murders of women take place in the domestic sphere” and in the 20 to 49 age group, “65 percent of the assaults are committed by the partner or ex”. The report also adds:
among the 84 countries from which we got data from the [World Health Organization's] statistics system, Brazil with its rate of 4.4 homicides for every 100,000 women, occupies the 7th place as one of the countries with higher levels of feminicide.
Sadly, these statistics are not on the decline. Calls for help to the Brazilian Women’s Assistance Center have in recent years increased by 16 times.
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