Lessons From Brazil’s Approach to Tackling Sexual Harassment
In 1983, Maria da Penha, a Brazilian bio-pharmacist, was shot in her sleep by her husband. Miraculously, she survived, and, two weeks later, he tried to electrocute her. Penha’s case languished in the Brazilian courts for two decades. Her husband remained a free man, while her injuries resulted in her becoming a paraplegic.
Her story, however, brought outside pressure. In 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights pressured the Brazilian government to prosecute and convict perpetrators of domestic violence. This was the first time that an international human rights organ looked at the issue of domestic violence. The resulting Maria da Penha Law increased the punishment for those who perpetrate violence against women, and it offered protective measures to victims.
The Maria da Penha Law was seen as a turning point for the fight against domestic violence in Brazil. Before the law, people “weren’t even aware of this expression: domestic violence. You just had a bad husband,” da Penha said. Since the creation of the law, the number of complaints has gone up by 600 percent, and the number of female homicides has gone down by 10 percent. Today, the law is known by 98 percent of Brazilians.
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