International Women’s Day will be marked by public acts for the end of violence and Good Living in Londrina. The actions take place on Saturday (7) and Sunday (8), in different regions of the city, involving the Municipal Council for Women’s Rights (CMDM), the Feminist Front, associations, and collectives defending the rights of girls and women.

On Saturday, between 9h and 13h, the CMDM will publicize the services that make up the municipal network for protecting women and the network for confronting violence. The action takes place at the Calçadão, in front of the Cine Teatro Ouro Verde. The cultural groups Estrela da Vila and Baque de Obá Kossô will be part of the program. A poster workshop organized by the Londrina Feminist Front is also confirmed.

“The goal is to bring to the public what March 8 really means: a day of struggle, achievements, and challenges for women,” explains the Council’s president, Sueli Galhardi.

Sueli Galhardi, president of the CMDM. Photo: Emerson Dias/NCom

“We want equality, justice, and democracy for all womanhoods. We fight to live with freedom, autonomy, and respect, already guaranteed by the Constitution. And this struggle is not only women’s, but that of the whole society.”

Municipal services

During the action at the Calçadão, in addition to publicizing the municipal services for the protection and care of women, the Municipal Health Department will offer rapid STI tests, blood pressure and blood glucose checks, as well as guidance on disease prevention and services available at health units.

The action is part of the 2nd edition of the campaign “Women in Focus: Self-care and Prevention,” in allusion to International Women’s Day.

The event will also feature the Women Entrepreneur Art Fair, organized in partnership with the Municipal Secretariat for Women’s Policies, with the exhibition and sale of products by local artisans and entrepreneurs.

Vista Bela for Them

Also on Saturday, the Vista Bela Women’s Movement (Mavibe) will promote the act “Vista Bela for Them,” at the neighborhood Society in the North Zone of Londrina, between 10h and 12h. According to Rita de Cássia Lemos, Mavibe leader, the demonstration was conceived to gather families and women to signal intolerance toward the high rates of local and nationwide violence.

“Vista Bela has reached the point where the woman is the mainstay of the household, that they are the providers, and even so they suffer violence in every form —they and their children— at the hands of a partner, male or female. The emotional and psychological imprisonment of these women, the vulnerability of being involved with narcissists, in a way makes them slaves to violence. They want to take a stand by saying they no longer accept the course Brazil has been taking,” explains Rita.

The action will be carried out with posters, held by those who feel comfortable. “It is a manifesto, signaling no to violence with some who agreed to hold posters, because we also don’t want to impose anything. Some do not feel comfortable because of the environment they live in, because of the situation they are going through, but by being there they will also be signaling that they are not in favor of violence and do not accept that this will be perpetuated for our daughters, our granddaughters. 2026 is the year to break that cycle,” she believes.

The action ends with the distribution of meals by the Marmitas do Bem project.

Feminist Front event in March 2025. Photo: Facebook/Reproduction

Sunday at the Saul fair

Continuing the program, the Londrina Feminist Front is promoting the act “For an end to violence, solidarity with the victims, and for Good Living” at the open-air market on Avenida Saul Elkind, in the North Zone. The action is in partnership with the CMDM and other feminist movements, popular collectives, and organizations, such as the Feminist Health Network and Néias—Londrina Femicide Observatory.

The mobilization takes place at the Cincão Fair, with gathering at 9h, in front of the Móveis Brasília store. The act is part of the national 8M agenda and is presented, according to the organizers, “as a moment of denunciation, solidarity, and mobilization.”

Among the central demands are confronting femicide and holding aggressors accountable; advocating for Paraná and Londrina to join the National Pact to Confront Femicide; resisting the dismantling of the Social Assistance Secretariat; strengthening the Municipal Secretariat for Women’s Policies (SMPM); combating institutional transphobia; defending legal abortion; fighting against the casualization and privatization of public education in Paraná; and ending the 6x1 schedule.

“The mobilization also expresses solidarity with Palestinian women, with the Indigenous population—with emphasis on the Kaingang Cultural Center of Londrina—and with all exploited and oppressed groups. The mobilization also reaffirms the importance of memory and justice in cases of gender-based political violence, such as in the murder of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes,” the organization concludes.

Black Divas

Also on Sunday, the Black Divas Collective will promote an act at the Citizenship Complex, at the Youth Center of the South Region, starting at 9h. “We fight for women’s lives, for the right to exist with dignity, autonomy, and freedom. In a country where gender violence still marks the lives of so many women, we continue denouncing machismo, racism, and the inequalities that cut across our bodies and our territories,” the organization declares.

The act takes place “For the lives of Black women, working-class, peripheral, young, and older women. For the guarantee of rights, for access to work, income, education, and justice.”

Partners include NEABI - Conceição Evaristo Center for Afro-Brazilian Studies at UTFPR Londrina, and Axé Raíces - Afro-Brazilian Culture Point.

"Women on the Front"

Already this Friday, the actions alluding to International Women’s Day begin with the tribute “Women on the Front,” proposed by state deputy Ana Júlia Ribeiro and councilwoman Paula Vicente, both from the PT, to recognize women “who make a difference in the city.”

The event begins at 19h30, in the plenary of the Londrina City Council Chamber.