In 2025, 1.568 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners. In 10 years (from 2015 to 2025), the number of femicides increased from 449 to 1.568. In every year of the historical series there was an increase. The improvement in records is an important fact, since it means that the police have been correctly classifying the incidents, but the increase shows that gender-based violence has not decreased, especially domestic and family violence.
In 2025, 1.067.556 urgent protection measures were granted. But deaths keep happening. Who are the women who are dying? The vast majority of them (63,6%) are Black women, which reveals structural inequality in the country, racism, the greater exposure of Black women to violence, and the absence of specific prevention and protection policies aimed at these women. Women are killed inside their homes (64,3%), which indicates that for many, the home is not a safe space.
Every year, the Brazilian Forum on Public Security publishes data that reveal the persistence of this phenomenon. We also know that the deaths, for the most part, are due to jealousy and to men’s refusal to accept the breakup of the relationship. That is, it is not for lack of data and evidence that we lack effective policies to prevent the deaths of women.
We live in a patriarchal society in which male socialization tolerates and/or promotes violence against women from childhood. Confronting gender-based violence requires short-, medium-, and long-term policies and serious commitments by governments at all levels. Speeches do not save lives. Budgets, concrete, persistent, and long-term policies do.
Reducing the rates of violence against women is not a simple task. But some countries have achieved significant results. Spain reduced them by 20% and is a country that has a comprehensive protection law against gender-based violence. Spanish legislation seeks to prevent violence, support survivors, and ensure accountability, in addition to guaranteeing access to victim support services, including shelters and legal assistance; it promotes prevention through education and awareness-raising and integrates a gender perspective into public policies.
One of the central aspects for reducing gender-based violence is to think long term, starting now. To change the culture of violence it is necessary to adopt measures that provide immediate assistance, contain the violence, and promote gender education. The Maria da Penha Law provides, in item X of Article 8, as an integrated protection measure, that the curricula of all educational levels include content related to human rights, gender and race or ethnic equity, and the problem of domestic and family violence against women. However, that provision is seldom applied and, as a result, we fail to teach and debate in educational institutions respect for girls and women. This measure is essential to prepare teachers to guide students, identify situations of violence both in the domestic and school settings, and prevent new violence. It is a long-term commitment that contributes to changing the culture of violence.
UN Women, in the report RESPECT Women (2019), proposes an integrated set of evidence-based strategies to prevent violence against women, organized at multiple levels of intervention. A first axis focuses on interpersonal relationships and on contexts of coexistence, strengthening communication skills, peaceful conflict resolution, and shared decision-making between partners. It also includes actions to make schools, public spaces, and workplaces safer, reducing opportunities for violence and promoting institutional cultures of respect and equality.
A second axis emphasizes the empowerment of women and girls and the reduction of structural vulnerabilities. This involves expanding economic and social autonomy through training, access to income, ownership of assets, and productive inclusion, in addition to ensuring essential and integrated services for survivors — such as specialized police and legal assistance, health care, psychosocial support, shelters, and crisis centers. The report also highlights poverty reduction and social protection policies as important preventive measures, by reducing economic stress factors associated with violence.
Lastly, the document highlights the need to break the intergenerational cycle of violence and transform social norms that legitimize gender inequalities. To this end, it recommends preventing abuse in childhood and adolescence with parenting programs, support for boys and girls exposed to violence, and preventive education in schools. It also calls for community mobilization and educational initiatives that challenge stereotypes and promote egalitarian relationships, linked to effective legal frameworks, adequate financing, institutional strengthening, and ongoing political commitment.
Thus, we have data, evidence, and proposals to reduce the costs of violence and its effects on the lives of women, their families, and society. However, this requires solid and lasting commitments from the Brazilian state. With the electoral process underway, it would be very important for candidates at all levels to adopt serious proposals to prevent violence and femicides, because women’s right to life cannot wait.
