Community work with women victims of domestic, ethnic/racial and social violence in Brazil.

Maria Mulher is a Brazilian feminist group that combats sexist, social and racial/ethnic discrimination. The following article describes some of the activities carried out by the organization's multi-disciplinary team of psychologists, nurses, social workers, educators and legal professionals who provide services to women and girls of all ages, the majority of African descent. The beneficiaries of the program are concentrated in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Porto Alegre.

At the dawn of the third millennium, there have been many advances in the areas of gender, race ethnicity and class discrimination. Nonetheless, vigilant monitoring and advocacy are still critical to ensure that reforms are implemented.

The transformations of socio-economic, political and cultural relations that occurred in the second half of the 20th century were important, but these changes did not necessarily focus on overcoming the persistence of sexism and racism nor on addressing social exclusion. This perverse reality perpetuates situations of vulnerability that the majority of black women continue to confront today.

Indeed, despite certain political advances--for example, the democratic right to elect federal, state and local representatives--we do not live in a perfectly democratic state. Democracy supposes the existence of effective civil participation, which is not the case for citizens of African descent in Brazil. On the contrary, in the region where Maria Mulher works, black women's citizenship is a matter of unfinished business.

To begin with, Brazilian women are not adequately represented among elected officials. The number of elected female representatives falls woefully short of the participation quota of 30% stipulated by Brazilian law. The situation of black Brazilian women is even bleaker. In terms of political representation, black women are far from accessing institutional power resources. The majority of black Brazilian women have limited levels of education and do not have access to information technology or training. It is not uncommon for black women to be educated in antiquated public school systems that do not promote cultural diversity or equal rights. The socioeconomic, political and cultural situations of black Brazilian women are, in general, extremely precarious: most live below the poverty line and endure situations of social exclusion.

In addition, even at the beginning of the 21st century, there is no public health policy that specifically addresses the needs of black women in Brazil, such as treatment or clinical testing programs for diseases that typically affect this population more frequently.

Black women also demand a specialized perspective in regard to their mental health needs; lack of access to HIV/ AIDS and STD treatment; sexual and racial violence; and difficulties in accessing the labor market, education and housing.

In addition to the various forms of violence mentioned above, black women also suffer psychological violence that manifests itself in the rejection of their identity. On one hand, they suffer from the imposition of the dominant aesthetic of white beauty. They also constitute the majority of sexual exploitation cases, feeding the sexual tourism and human trafficking markets in growing numbers.

In the labor market, black women suffer the highest rates of unemployment and spend the most time unemployed. When they do receive wages, they are paid on average 55% less than white women. Black women also constitute the majority of workers in the informal market. In addition, they are primarily employed in jobs that are considered "less skilled," such as domestic work. According to the 1999 National Household Survey, 56% of all domestic servants are black women.

According to the Gender Development Index, GDI (from the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program, UNDP) Brazil ranked 79 among 143 countries in the indicators of gender inequality. In the area of gender and race/ethnicity, Brazil ranked 91st among 143 countries.

Promoting Equality and Respect for Diversity

Maria Mulher works to draw attention to issues affecting black women. The organization emphasizes the need to achieve gender equity and promotes the belief that being different does not mean being inferior. Maria Mulher stresses black women's particular situation in sessions that strengthen the exercise of citizenship, highlighting the different ethnic, racial and social conditions that exist. The organization's strategies to improve the living conditions of black women and to end discrimination against them include:

* Developing and supporting actions that empower black women from a gender perspective;

* Promoting black women's political participation in all areas of society;

* Exchanging information and experiences among members of black women's organizations.

The health of the black population, especially of women, constitutes one of the primary program areas of Maria Mulher. The organization fights for firm commitments by the government agencies responsible for the health of this sector and promotes the elimination of gender, ethnic/racial and social discrimination with particular attention to the issue of health.

In the area of services and counseling for women victims of domestic violence and social exclusion, Maria Mulher offers individualized care, offering support and asylum from the moment the woman first visits the organization. The woman is received in a special waiting room where those seeking services are encouraged to share their experiences with one another. While waiting to be treated by a specialist, women are shown videos that address health issues, human rights, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. Information is also provided on the existing services for emotional and physical rehabilitation.

The staff of Maria Mulher seeks to build a bond with the woman through individual and group interviews. A multidisciplinary team listens to the victim's accounts of violence and emphasizes the deconstructing of society's dismissal and normalization of violence. This includes offering support, listening to each woman and offering medical, legal and psychosocial counseling. Giving women the space to talk and express themselves represents the first step in the process of helping women to rebuild confidence. This process helps women garner the emotional strength required to break the cycles of violence and exclusion. Individual and group counseling sessions consider how difficult it can be for women to express their feelings about traumatic events. Maria Mulher believes this affords the opportunity to begin the self-healing process, which makes external healing possible and eventually allows women to address other issues, such as citizenship.

The psychosocial counseling services include:

* Home visits, which allow the multidisciplinary team a more intimate picture and provide for a more accurate assessment of the women's relationships in the home, with her family and in her community;

* Support Groups seek to promote self-esteem, better understanding and recognition of participants; to generate trust among group members and to encourage interest in continuing the work; to present unique situations through dramatizations; to detect special situations and involve appropriate experts in cases that require specialized attention;

Above all, the staff insists that violence experienced by women should in no way be treated as normal, trivial or dismissible. Myths and cultural interpretations are often responsible for women blaming themselves or destiny for the violence in their lives. Great efforts are made to help women understand that precarious living conditions, low income, lack of schooling and one's skin color are not the problems of individuals but are directly related to situations of social exclusion. The connection between these situations and the resulting low self-esteem and denial of one's own feelings are also emphasized in support group sessions.

However, Maria Mulher illustrates to participants that group discussions are not enough to change individual and collective realities. The staff emphasizes the importance of seeking assistance and the commitment of public institutions. Maria Mulher also encourages participants to formulate an evaluation of the basic needs of group members; to enlist the help of civil society and the government to meet these demands; to formulate and lobby for public policies of equal opportunity.

* Health Care Groups offer assistance and provide health information and knowledge, which encourages discussions among the women about caring for one's own health, corporal autonomy and the right to sexual pleasure.

* Education and Learning Groups are designed to promote respect for individual life experiences and their role in their communities through understanding and valuing one's own history; this exercise encourages women to enjoy their lives more and to perceive themselves as social agents.

* Training and Continued Education Groups give women the tools to improve themselves and their ability to earn higher wages through skills development. The overall objective is to help participants obtain a higher degree of social autonomy.

The Scourge of Violence

Domestic violence and sexual abuse of women and girls is present in all sectors and social classes. Poverty only exacerbates this problem. The lack of information on available services and the appropriate methods of dealing with specific cases fosters a climate of impunity and the perpetuation of such violence. Sexual abuse and domestic violence are intimately related. Daily experiences of violence normalizes this abuse, creating a vicious cycle that must be broken. Mothers themselves may be violent towards their children or fail to report instances of child abuse, especially sexual violence involving a father, step-father, live-in partner or another family member or close acquaintance. The lack of reporting is due to various factors. Some mothers suffered sexual violence during childhood, and because this abuse was not dealt with properly, they have internalized the belief that the victim is ultimately responsible for the violence. These women may blame their own daughters for "provoking" the abuse.

In addition, the lack of information on how to file claims against abusers, the inaccessibility of the justice system and the impunity of the aggressor tend to make the violence more difficult to report. Furthermore, financial and emotional dependence on the aggressor and fear of reporting him also can complicate the situation. Most victims are abused by family members or friends of the family: father, step-father, grandfather, the mother's live-in boyfriend, brother, uncle, or neighbor. Abuse often occurs when children are in route to school or when they are left alone in the home caring for younger siblings. In these two situations, the mother is usually at work or had to leave the home to deal with some urgent matter.

Educating family members about the effects of sexual abuse and psychotherapy for victims are ways of addressing the problem. However, the head of the family and even the victims themselves often see psychological care as unnecessary and ineffective. There is a cultural resistance to this type of therapy since the results are not immediate. Through educational workshops, Maria Mulher seeks to establish a bond of trust that will encourage acceptance of psychological treatment. These workshops include information on citizenship, interpersonal relations, self-esteem, personal hygiene, sexual and reproductive rights, human rights, economics, health management, information on aspects that expand knowledge and understanding of the world, and the discovery of those things that make personal development and transformation possible.

The "Recycling Children's and Adolescents' Citizenship" Program aims to break the cycle of physical, sexual and psychological violence from early childhood through adolescence. Bearing in mind the high incidence of sexual abuse of girls and young women in the sector that the organization serves, Maria Mulher emphasizes primarily preventive efforts but also includes dissemination of information regarding how to report sexual violence. Parents and teachers are also counseled on how to recognize and identify signs that a child is being abused.

Educational activities seek to build the victim's resistance to violence by establishing bonds of trust among the young people in the program and the staff of Maria Mulher so that the participants understand and accept the need to deal with the situation by pursuing both legal recourse and psychological counseling. In this effort, the development of a complementary education program for families on the effects of sexual abuse and the provision of information on human rights are essential.

Maria Mulher also offers participatory discussion groups with the community in order to introduce the topics of domestic, racial and social violence. This outreach is carried out through seminars targeting community leaders so that they will address these issues in their communities. The seminars provide information on education, health, civil, sexual and reproductive rights, gender and race/ethnicity.

Finally, the organization also directs a program called "SOS Racism," which offers legal and psychosocial counseling for victims of racism and ethnic/racial discrimination. This service is available for all citizens in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Denunciation of racism and discrimination and the prosecution of aggressors will help eradicate racist behavior, which is still considered normal in Brazilian society. The multidisciplinary program includes specialists in law, psychology, social work and education and uses a progressive strategy that emphasizes equal opportunities for black Brazilian citizens. To date, the highest number of legal claims (based on the victim and aggressor) are work-related (31.2% of cases), and most of the victims are women (56.06%). These statistics reveal that behind the official criteria for employment is an implicitly racist ideology that considers the black female population unfit for various activities and uses false arguments to justify social exclusion and discrimination.

Maria Mulher believes that the work of combating domestic, ethnic/racial and social violence in marginal communities requires a consideration of the reality of the local context. The State's activities with respect to women fail to take into consideration the socio-economic and racial/ethnic diversity in Brazil. It is vital that the unique realities of women seeking services be considered so that the State's proposed programs will be successful.

July 25: Afro-Latin American and A fro-Caribbean Women's Day 

In 1992 during the First Encounter of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean women held in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, participants decided to commemorate black women's struggle and resistance on July 25 with activities and campaigns to raise awareness about existing gender, racial and ethnic oppression.

Unlike the massive celebrations of March 8, International Women's Day, it has not been easy to consolidate the efforts behind this date, in large part because feminism and the women's movement in general have not made efforts to incorporate this commemoration as a political priority. In the case of Brazil, where half of the female population is black, failure to acknowledge this date means ignoring the fact that the struggle against racism strengthens the women's movement.

The invisibility or ignorance of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Women's Day creates a serious obstacle in the fight against the discrimination of women, if it is true that the incorporation of gender perspective in public policy continues generally at a slow pace, the consideration of race and ethnicity is even more encumbered.

The Rede Nacional Feminista de Saude, Direitos Sexuais e Direitos Reprodutivos invites its affiliates to remember that the health of black women and the black population in general are still neglected in Latin America and the Caribbean. And bearing in mind that the failure to address these topics as a form of racism, we acknowledge the political value inherent in reflections on the commitments made at the Conference of the Americas (2000), the preparatory event for the U.N. World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Durban 2001).

Source: RedeFax, no. 13, July 2003, Rede Nacional Feminista de Saude, Direitos Sexuais e Direitos Reprodutivos.

On Race-Based Inequities in Brazil

One of the must significant and up-to-date analyses of racial inequity in Brazil can be found in the Dossier Assimetrias Raciais ne Brasil: Alerta para a elaboracao de politicas (Dossier on Racial Imbalances in Brazil: A Wake-up Call for Policymaking) written by Wania Sant'Anna and published by the Rede Nacional Feminista de Saude, Direitos Sexuais e Direitos Reprodutivos (National Feminist Network on Health, Sexual Rights and Reproductive Rights).

This document describes the situation of African-descendant Brazilians based on the race/ethnicity variable of Brazil's Pesquisas Nacionais de Amostra por Domicilio, PNAD (National Household Surveys) from 1990 to 2001 and the database prepared by the Instituto de Pesquisa Economica e Aplicada, IPEA (Institute of Applied Economic Research).

* To access this important document, visit the RedeSaude website at http://www.redesaude.org.br

For more information, contact:

Maria Mulher, Organizacao de Mulheres Negras e-mail: [e-mail] website: http://mariamulher.rits.org.br

Maria Mulher, Organization of Black Women