Fighting violence against women: the struggle between old values and new patterns of public policies

Abstract

The case describes a situation of domestic violence experienced by a black woman and the obstacles she faced to denounce the aggressor and assert her rights. The fact reported takes place in 2011 after Law Maria da Penha and the Statute of Racial Equality have been sanctioned, laws by which it seeks to combat domestic violence against women and racial inequalities, factors that produce exclusion and vulnerability, particularly affecting some segments of the population, as the black women. The case shows the contradiction between norms and their effective application, when the behavior of public agents still maintains standards and values of an authoritarian, patriarchal and slavery State. The case is fictitious, but reflects real situations collected in documents and reports of the Ombudsman’s Secretariat of Policies for Women (SPM)2. It stimulates discussion about the problem and possible action strategies.