Community organizations play vital role in tackling gender violence in Brazil

A third of Brazilian women have received death threats from a current or former partner, and one in six has been the victim of attempted femicide, according to the findings of a new study on perceptions of gender-based violence in Brazil. The study, carried out by the Instituto Patrícia Galvão, a feminist organization, and the Instituto Locomotiva, a research institute, surveyed 1,503 women and men to gain a greater understanding of the Brazilian population’s perceptions of femicide. 

The study found that 57 percent of Brazilians know someone who has been threatened with so-called ‘intimate femicide’ (when the violence is perpetrated by a current or ex-partner), while 37 percent know a woman who has been a victim of femicide or attempted femicide. Most interviewees feel that violence against women, and femicide in particular, is becoming more prevalent and more vicious.

This perception reflects a somber reality. Recent data from the Brazilian Public Safety Forum (FBSP) shows that cases of rape – a traditionally under-reported crime – increased by 8.3 percent in the first six months of 2021, compared with the same period in 2020. 

The number of recorded femicides over this period was the highest since the FBSP’s current records began in 2017, totaling 666 – equivalent to four femicides per day. In its annual public security report for the year 2020, the FBSP recorded 1,350 victims of femicide, a 0.7 percent increase on 2019. 

Over 81 percent of victims were killed by their current or former partner; 61.8 percent were black.

Understanding gender-based violence

The crime of femicide, defined as the killing of a woman...