Women were the most impacted by the pandemic. Brazil ranks 5th in the world ranking of femicides. In 2021, over 17 million women have suffered either physical, psychological or sexual violence. Women – mostly young, black and divorced – suffer more violence within their own homes, with the perpetrators of violence being mostly people known to the victim.
One in four women over the age of 16 claim to have suffered some type of violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the public perception that violence against women has grown by 73% during the period of health emergency. What could be done to change such a scenario?
Challenge
Violence against women has been further exacerbated during the pandemic. What was once urgent has become even more so. Violence against women does not begin or end with physical aggression. Maria da Penha Law lists 5 types of violence: moral, sexual, patrimonial, psychological, and lastly, physical. Facts show violence is underreported, among many reasons, because there is a lack of understanding and knowledge about the different types of violence and how they occur in real life.
Opportunity
The “Para Cada Uma” campaign was created to address the issue, transforming difficult language into a more palatable narrative. Its main focus was to identify, name and exemplify the different types of domestic and family violence provided for by law.
In order to carry out the campaign, we were supported by Brazilian initiatives and organizations which have already been working on the subject, bringing credibility and endorsement to it, in addition to being open to collaborating and co-building a campaign in response to domestic and family violence. This was the case of Maria da Penha Instituto and Avon Institute.
In addition, the credibility that the UN has in Brazil opened up several doorways to the creation of an important and high-impact campaign with the engagement of several organizations specialized in the subject, institutions that were not active, influencers and specialists.
Theory of Change
By calling on trusted messengers (influencers, active and non-active organizations, media outlets and community leaders) to actively engage in the campaign on the different types of violence against women and how to act, we can change the perception and behavior of women and female allies on the topic of violence to raise awareness about types of violence against women.
The campaign’s branding was designed to be direct while subtle, using predominantly lilac, as this color represents the fight against domestic violence in Brazil, during the Lilac August awareness month. The orange color, in turn, represents the UN’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign. We also used illustrative images representing the diversity of Brazilian women.
The “Para Cada Uma” campaign is part of the UN Verified global initiative and had institutional support from Maria da Penha Institute and Avon Institute, in addition to collaborations from the Brazilian Conference of Bishops (CNBB), Eletromidia, Farah Service, CCR Group, CCR Institute, Rio Art Museum, Museum of Tomorrow, Nigro Entertainment, Christ the Redeemer Sanctuary, Urbia, ViaMobilidade, ViaQuatro, VLT Carioca, G10 Favelas and Association of Women of Paraisópolis.
Launch
The campaign was launched on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of Maria da Penha Law (August 7, 2022), by UN’s Verified global initiative, during an inter-religious act at Christ the Redeemer Sanctuary, in Rio de Janeiro, to which attended representatives of 9 religions, along with singer Kell Smith. Lights in the colors of the campaign and image alluding to the topic were especially projected on Rio’s monument of Christ the Redeemer.
The campaign also comprised online and offline actions. Several institutions and companies showed support, with lilac lighting interventions at the Planetarium and Oca Ibirapuera, both managed by Urbia, in São Paulo, at Rio’s Museum of Arts (MAR) and Museum of Tomorrow, also in Rio de Janeiro, and Amazonas Theater, in Manaus.
Channels
In São Paulo, 20 train and subway wagon doors in lines 4, 5, 8 and 9 were stickered with motifs in support of the “Para Cada Uma” campaign. On display monitors inside wagons, on platforms and on bike paths, messages to combat domestic and family violence were transmitted to users. In Rio, VLT Carioca and Eletromidia also supported the initiative by spreading its messages on their display screens and electronic monitors.
We also shared assets in line with the campaign on the social channel profiles of the UN in Brazil, Maria da Penha Institute and Avon Institute.
Influencers
For the campaign, we had also the engagement of other relevant names, such as financial influencer Nath Finance, and Fayda Belo a lawyer specialized in gender crimes, anti-discrimination law and femicides. They both posted content on patrimonial, moral and psychological violence on their Instagram profiles.
Content creators Juliana Luziê, Brona Palodo and Roberta Freitas, the latter also a beauty influencer, also took part in the initiative, posting pieces to engage and inform their audiences about the fight on violence against women.
In addition to them, content creator Ju Romano and teacher and researcher Valeska Zanello gathered for a live show on Instagram for a conversation on domestic and family violence, focusing on the different types of both psychological and moral violence.
Organically, several female influencers showed support, by speaking out on social networks, and posting the campaign pieces on their profiles.
The campaign captured the attention of various media outlets, such as newspapers, TVs, social networks and radio, in 200+ channels, reaching audiences from different states in Brazil.
The campaign also promoted the “Para Cada Uma e Por Todas” (For Each One and for All) workshop, with training offered by the Maria da Penha Institute in São Paulo’s Paraisópolis slum. The training was carried out from a thematic workshop that aimed at bringing concepts and fundamentals of Maria da Penha Law while strengthening the notion of territoriality for Paraisópolis’ women.
Workshop attendees were “street presidents” (community leaders), who not only were trained in the law’s concepts and fundamentals, but were also multipliers of the campaign, taking knowledge and support closer to women in the community.
Over 70 women attended the 3-day workshop, further disseminating the content to over 400 other women.
The action also measured the impact of the workshop and its effect on knowledge among “street presidents”. The 2-staged measurement was conducted by the Favela Diz Institute, including both a pre- and a post-workshop survey, as well as a recall inquiry with women in the community to measure recall and effectiveness of the communication on the topic (violence against women) disseminated through leaders.
Pre- and post-workshop surveys: 70 “street presidents”
Recall: 400 women (200 impacted and 200 non-impacted women)
The campaign had over 27 M unique visitors to articles that featured in the media. Millions more were impacted by the campaign on bike paths and public transportation. The campaign also relied on social networks and influencers – customized content on the topic increased awareness on the different types of domestic and family violence by 43%.
As for the female community leaders and women of Paraisópolis, we proved the relevance and the effectiveness of the campaign through surveys conducted with Favela Diz Institute.
Impact on community leadership
- Women know more now about domestic violence, how to support other women and to address the subject. After training, leaders know more about Maria da Penha Law (+15%) and a lot about domestic violence (+10%). They also feel much more prepared to support other women (+35%), know what steps they can take to help (+27%), and how to discuss the issue with close friends (+16%) & family (+14%).
- Verified trained the participants on the different types of violence. After training, leaders now can better identify traces of moral (+16%) and psychological (18%) violence.
Impact on Paraisópolis’ women
- Available services are best known now after the messages sent by community leaders. Women in Paraisópolis are now more aware of the services they have at their disposal, such as the women’s protection police station (+19%), Women’s 180 Helpline (+9%), Emergencies’ Report 190 Helpline (+28%), legal and psychological guidance and/or housing (+12%), among others.
- Girls aged 15-24 had a very significant increase in their knowledge about sexual violence. Especially among women aged 15-24, their knowledge of sexual violence increased by 43%. Regarding psychological violence, their knowledge increased by 21%. Women aged 25-34 increased their knowledge about both patrimonial (+21%) and psychological violence (+12%).
for Equity & Evidence