The most unsafe place to be a woman shouldn’t be their home: A closer look at femicide rates in Brazil
The most recent report by UN Women and UNODC found that 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally by men in 2023, with 60% of these deaths committed by someone close to the victim, be it intimate partners or family members. The report also shows that 140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes. But, according to data from the World Bank, 109 countries (out of 190) have not yet developed comprehensive mechanisms to address violence against women.
Femicide, a term used to refer to the murder of women due to their gender, is one of the most extreme forms of gender-based violence. In Brazil, the annual report by the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety showed that, for the second year, the country has recorded the highest number of women killed for gender-related reasons since the publication of the Law No. 13,104/2015, which defines and typifies this crime. When we take a closer look at the data, it shows that most of the women and girls who were victims were black women (63.6% of the victims), 71.1% were between 18 and 44 years old, and 64.3% were killed inside their own homes. It also shows that 63% of the victims were killed by an intimate partner and 21.2% by a former intimate partner.
The report also recorded unprecedented levels of rape and other forms of gender-based violence: reported cases of rape rose by 6.5% from the previous year to a new historic high of 83,988 – or one woman being raped every six minutes. Despite this horror, there are continued efforts to criminalize rape victims who have an abortion, compounding the violence inflicted upon these women and their bodies.
To tackle this violence effectively, it is essential to understand how it affects different groups, especially in a country like Brazil that has been shaped by historical inequalities and unequal access to fundamental rights. Beatriz Accioly, Coordinator of Partnerships and Institutional Relations at the Natura Institute, highlights that femicide is disproportionately and inequitably experienced by certain groups and disaggregated data is needed to uncover the full scope of the problem and guides solutions. As she explains, “Unfortunately, the country lacks systematic data on femicide disaggregated for other factors such as education and income. This information is vital for understanding and measuring these vulnerabilities and how they intersect, as well as the intersections between violence against women and broader social issues such as urban violence and organized crime.”
The Context of criminalizing Femicide in Latin America and Brazil
According to ECLAC, in 2023 all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean currently had laws aimed at preventing and ending violence against women and 19 countries have passed laws and protocols penalising femicide or the violent deaths of women for gender-related reasons. However, despite legislative progress, violence against women and girls remains a persistent reality in the region: In 2023, 11 out of the 18 Latin American countries that reported data on femicide had rates exceeding one victim per 100,000 women (the region’s goal is a 0 feminicide rate), Brazil being third with the highest femicide rate.
The Maria da Penha Law (Law No. 11.340/2006) has been in effect in Brazil for 18 years and marked a historical milestone in the fight against violence against women. Before this law, these crimes were called “crime of passion” or a crime in the name of “honour” and assaults were treated as minor and private matters. With its enforcement, domestic violence began to be recognized as a violation of Human Rights, requiring effective actions from the State to protect victims and punish perpetrators.
The concept of femicide in Brazil was first introduced into the Brazilian Penal Code in 2015, with the approval of Law No. 13.104/2015, classifying the murder of women motivated by gender as a more severe crime with harsher penalties. Through its most recent mobilization campaign called National Mobilization for Zero Femicide, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed into law a new bill raising prison terms for femicide to up to 20 to 40 years (up from 12 to 30 years of imprisonment), the longest sentence under Brazil’s Penal Code.
The new change typifies femicide in a specific article and recognizes femicide as a heinous crime, and no longer as just another variation of homicide, and brings new aggravating provisions, which can increase the penalty, such as the use of poison, torture, or other cruel means; ambush or any other resource that makes the victim’s defence impossible; and the use of firearms of restricted or prohibited use. The new law also enhances penalties for convicts who violate protective measures while serving their sentences.
However, Accioly notes that the recent legislative changes have been met with scepticism from experts in the field. Civil society organizations have criticized the focus on increased penalties, arguing that similar measures enacted with the 2015 law have failed to reduce the number of crimes. According to her “these changes were also made without prior dialogue with civil society and other segments of the population to find solutions, and they opt for punitive measures as a supposed solution to an extremely complex social problem. There is even concern that the changes may have the opposite effect of what was intended.“
Legislative changes need to move beyond punitive measures only and should also focus on a more holistic and comprehensive system of support for women, including education, prevention and support, as well as effective enforcement of protective laws, which can address the root causes of violence and ensure long -term safety.
Monitoring at the National Level: The National Map on Gender-Based Violence
The National Gender-Based Violence Map is an interactive platform for official public data on violence against women. The dashboard consolidates data from the Federal Senate, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the National Justice Council (CNJ), and the Unified Health System (SUS). It is aligned with Article 38 of the Maria da Penha Law, which provides for the systematization of data to be unified nationally, as well as the periodic evaluation of the results of the measures implemented. This interactive platform is crucial for guiding public policies and actions based on evidence.
“The Map enables and facilitates access to data and indicators that are essential for addressing the problem of violence against women in Brazil. Data enables women and girls to access their rights, it raises awareness and creates solutions to change their reality, ensuring their safety and well-being” Accioly notes.
She points out that “Despite important and positive localized efforts, there is a lack of regularly produced centralized national data. This gap results in a distorted understanding of the real issue. What is not monitored and measured with rigor and attention cannot be effectively tracked, evaluated, or properly executed using measurable, comparable, and reliable goals and metrics.” For her, the Map can serve as an inspiration to other countries, as it is the first to have a unified and integrated public database for the different types of violence.
This 16 Days of Activism, Accioly leaves us with a powerful reminder: “indicators are crucial for progress. What is not monitored, is not understood. They are means to tell the stories of violated rights – of women we have lost to deaths that could and should have been avoided.”
This series of blog posts done by Equal Measures 2030 aims to raise awareness during the 16 Days of Activism and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to shed light on this issue and the need for comprehensive and comparable data. Read the other blogs in this series:
