What Makes Domestic Violence Legislation More Effective?

Domestic violence against women has gained worldwide attention as a form of discrimination as well as a violation of women's human rights. An estimated one in three women in the world is affected, independent of their social standing and cultural background. In many countries around the world, laws are now in place making domestic violence against women a crime. Yet implementation often lags behind legal reforms. Women's organising is vital not only to get laws on the statute books, but can also play an important role in monitoring the implementation of these policies and holding governments to account in making domestic violence legislation more effective. This paper draws primarily on the experiences of the implementation of the Brazilian Maria da Penha Law, a comprehensive legislation package, formulated and monitored with extensive participation from feminist organisations, and passed in 2006. It also draws on examples from Bangladesh and Ghana, where women's organising has played a fundamental role in the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of policies to confront domestic violence against women.UKaid from the Department for International Development with co-funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affair

Family, Households and Women’s Empowerment in Bahia, Brazil, Through the Generations: Continuities or Change?

This article identifies changes and continuities in gender relations in a working class neighbourhood in Salvador, Bahia, through the generations. Based on data collected over a period of nearly 20 years, it seeks to identify processes of women’s empowerment. It confirms the relevance of women’s economic independence to their participation in decision-making and in gaining autonomy; it gave them the power to assert control over their own lives. To this end, female solidarity has also played a special role, propitiating the exercise of power with to bring about the desired changes in one’s lives. However, neither economic independence nor female solidarity alone seems to have automatically led to conscious ‘gender rebellion’ and a break with traditional roles in the family. This only becomes possible when new values and attitudes in favour of alternative models, such as those proposed by contemporary feminisms, gain greater expression

Campaigning for the Right to Legal and Safe Abortion in Brazil

This article examines the experience of mobilizing for the right to safe, legal abortion in Brazil. It focuses on exploring the strategies pursued by the feminist and women’s movements to “win hearts and minds” both within these movements, and beyond them, through collective struggle, dialogue and coalition building. Tracing the trajectory of the Brazilian campaign for the legalization of abortion, Journadas pelo Direito ao Aborto Legal e Seguro, the article looks at avenues of action and modes of activism. It describes how the efforts of campaigners have focused not only on engaging support from the public and the media, but also on working with the Ministry of Health and health professionals to guarantee the availability of services for abortions that are legal under current restrictions, monitoring changes in public opinion and the media, and on legislative change, which has recently become especially difficult in the wake of increased activism by the Church. The analysis explores entry points, successes and challenges in this journey, and highlights ongoing dilemmas in the struggle for abortion rights in Brazil

With a Little Help From our Friends: “Global” Incentives and “Local” Challenges to Feminist Politics in Brazil

What are the major challenges facing feminists working to achieve gender justice in the context of development today? How are we to go about facing them? These were two of the major questions addressed by the ‘Gender Myths and Feminist Fables’ workshop participants, but to which no single solution was to be found. My own reactions are best conveyed by outlining current circumstances in Brazil. These reflect my close involvement in recent developments which, I believe, should foster the forging of a more equitable Brazilian society

Family, Households and Women's Empowerment in Bahia, Brazil, Through the Generations: Continuities or Change?

This article identifies changes and continuities in gender relations in a working class neighbourhood in Salvador, Bahia, through the generations. Based on data collected over a period of nearly 20 years, it seeks to identify processes of women's empowerment. It confirms the relevance of women's economic independence to their participation in decision?making and in gaining autonomy; it gave them the power to assert control over their own lives. To this end, female solidarity has also played a special role, propitiating the exercise of power with to bring about the desired changes in one's lives. However, neither economic independence nor female solidarity alone seems to have automatically led to conscious ‘gender rebellion’ and a break with traditional roles in the family. This only becomes possible when new values and attitudes in favour of alternative models, such as those proposed by contemporary feminisms, gain greater expression

Revisitando o campo: autocrítica de uma antropóloga feminista

Neste trabalho, tenho como proposta refletir sobre os desafios postos para a produção de conhecimento na perspectiva da Antropologia Feminista, a partir de um exercício de autocrítica. Em especial, proponho-me a revisitar minhas diferentes vivências e experiências no trabalho de campo, ao longo dos meus quase 40 anos como autodenominada antropóloga feminista, agora, é claro, com um novo olhar –o da maturidade–.  Para tanto, apoio-me nos princípios das epistemologias feministas perspectivistas, procurando identificar e analisar de que forma e em que medida as intersecções de gênero, raça, etnia, classe, geração e sexualidade, dentre outras, dentro dos contextos etnográficos distintos no tempo e no espaço em que atuei, demarcaram minha posicionalidade e persona no campo, promovendo –ou delimitando– meus encontros (ou desencontros) com meus interlocutores e interlocutoras na produção de um conhecimento que se quer antropológico e feminista. Neste exercício, revisito, assim, três momentos da minha trajetória: a) trabalhando na década de 1970 como assistente numa pesquisa com comunidades de origem portuguesa na região da Nova Inglaterra, nos Estados Unidos da América; b) atuando, nos anos 1980, como documentadora em um projeto voltado para jovens da periferia de Salvador, Bahia; e c) desenvolvendo pesquisa de campo nos anos 1990 com antigas operárias e operários da indústria têxtil baiana num contexto de trabalho engajado. Por fim, com base nessas reflexões autocríticas, procuro destacar alguns pontos que considero centrais para se pensar a construção de uma etnografia feminista na contemporaneidade

“Ten Years of Maria Da Penha Law: Advancements and Shortcomings in Confronting Gender Based Violence Against Women in Brazil”

Background paper elaborated for UNWomen, Research and Data Section, February, 2017. I would like to thank Amanda Horta for her collaboration in the case-study in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo

Gender, generation, and personal destinies: histories of women and men textile workers in Bahia, Brazil

This paper analyzes gender inequalities in the industrial development of Bahia, Brazil, on the basis of work-histories of women and men textile workers in Salvador, residents of a former workers’ villa owned by Fábrica São Braz, a factory which closed in the late 1950s. It compares and contrasts (dis)continuities found along gender and generation lines, showing that while most of these workers were not absorbed by new industry, this was especially true for the older generation and particularly marked in the case of women: 1) women worked at the less skilled occupations in the mill, many of which became obsolete with the production of synthetic textiles; 2) while traditional industries had relied primarily on the employment of women, new industry employed mainly men; and 3) jobs away from their neighborhood made the reconciling of wage work and domestic activities more difficult for women. They were left with few options but that of resorting to the so-called ‘informal sector’, becoming laundresses, domestic servants, petty-commodity producers, operators of food stands, and the like. This break with their condition as industrial workers would be extended to the succeeding generations of women in the community. The daughters of former factory workers are no longer factory workers themselves. These findings show that the divide resulting from the workings of patriarchal gender ideology has sharply imprinted the history of textile workers in Bahia. This calls for efforts towards the ‘gendering’ of Brazilian labor history. Keywords: Textile Workers. Gender Divide. Deskilling of Industrial Workers.        Labor History. Bahia, Brazil

Brazilian Feminisms in Global Spaces: Beijing and Beijing+20

Within the last decades, feminist movements in Brazil have advanced significantly beyond borders, gaining increasing recognition in global spaces, UN ones in particular, for positively influencing Brazil's official position. Unsurprisingly, Brazil has served four terms in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and, in the eyes of more progressive delegations, is a much needed presence to ensure no lost ground on what has been achieved in previous conferences. However, the actual presence of Brazilian feminist activists in the delegations and the NGO Forums has dwindled considerably. What have been the strategies and mechanisms at play in maintaining a radical vein in our official position? Can it be sustained without the more active involvement of feminist activists – say, throughout Brazil's new role as president of the 60th CSW session? These are some of the issues I address in this article, sharing the views of activists present at those events