29 per cent of Brazilian Women Say They Have Been Victim of Some Form of Violence

03/08/2017 - 11h54

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FERNANDA MENA

FROM SÃO PAULO

One in three Brazilian women aged 16 or over has been beaten, cursed, threatened, grabbed, pursued, stabbed, pushed or kicked in the last 12 months.

This is the result of a survey conducted by Datafolha at the request of the Brazilian Forum of Public Security.

The survey interviewed women from all over the country and revealed: 29% of them reported having suffered physical, verbal or psychological violence in the previous year.

The survey estimated that 503 women were victims of physical attacks every hour in Brazil and that 66% of Brazilians witnessed a woman being physically or verbally assaulted in the period.

According to the survey, funded by the Government of Canada and the Avon Institute, the perpetrator was known to the victims in 61% of cases.

They were spouses or boyfriends (19%), ex-companions or ex-boyfriends (16%), brothers or sisters (9%).

The aggressions occurred mainly at home (43%) and on the street (39%) and were more frequent among women aged 16-24 (45%).

Fifty-two percent of the women reporting aggression did nothing about the violence they suffered.

Of the 48% who took some measure, 13% sought help from the family, 12% sought support from friends and 5% sought the church they attend.

Only 11% went to a women's police station, while 10% reported the case at a common police station.

The survey also shows that more black women (32%) and mixed-race women (31%) reported violence in the last 12 months than white women (25%).

Translated by MARINA DELLA VALLE

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