Gender-Based Violence against Women in a Metropolitan Area of Brazil´s Capital: An Ecological Approach

Leides Barroso Azevedo Moura, Universidade de Brasília
Ana Maria Nogales Vasconcelos, Universidade de Brasília

The Brazilian society has been historically organized under the endorsement of patriarchalism and hypermasculinity attitudes. Only recently, violence against women was included in the political agenda as a violation of human rights. The study emphasizes the need to understand hypermasculinity attitudes and violence as social phenomenon that are impacted by multiple levels of factors from an ecological framework. Results of physical, sexual and psychological current violence (last 12 months) against women aged between 15 to 49 years perpetrated by intimate partners and non-partners were presented. World Health Organization methodology and ethical guidelines on violence against women were adopted. 300 women that live in a metropolitan area of Brazil’s capital called Varjão were interviewed. The study describes one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the country. Bivariate and Logistic regression analyses were used. Human rights violation, social vulnerability, and empowerment at individual and collective level are discussed.