Opinion – Pablo Acosta: Why we should care about gender-based violence and how to fight it

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive global problem, occurring at alarming rates. GBV is a broad term that encompasses any harmful act that generates or threatens to generate physical, sexual, emotional or psychological harm, both in the public and private spheres, and which affects mainly women.

According to data from the World Health Organization, one in three women suffer physical or sexual violence in her life, predominantly by an intimate partner.

It is also a hyperendemic problem in Brazil. Data prior to the Covid-19 pandemic estimated that more than 500 women suffer some type of violence every hour in Brazil, with at least one woman murdered every two hours. With such high rates, and despite the existence of one of the most progressive laws in the world against domestic violence (Lei Maria da Penha), in 2015 Brazil ranked fifth among the countries with the highest rate of femicide in the world.

Since its outbreak, the pandemic has intensified gender-based violence. Social isolation and increased tensions at home due to confinement and financial instability, overload of household chores and child care, in addition to limited access to health, security and justice services, has in practice generated a kind of time bomb. violence, often with no way out for women.

The picture, already pointed out by evidence of previous crises, was also the object of analysis of emerging data, such as the technical note from the World Bank on Combating Violence against Women (VCM) in Brazil in the Covid-19 period.

According to the 15th Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security, there was a 16.3% increase in calls for domestic violence in 2020 compared to 2019. Considered a manifestation and reflection of preexisting and gender inequalities, it also disproportionately affects most vulnerable groups.

In Brazil, among the victims of femicide in 2020, 61.8% were black, and more than a third were young people between 18 and 29 years of age. In addition to health, psychological and well-being impacts, gender-based violence also has high social and economic costs for victims, their families and communities.

Violence is a drain on human capital and productivity, affecting not just victims but everyone who witnesses it. Estimates are that the cost of gender-based violence for a country can reach 6% of GDP — much more than the average investment of a middle-income nation in health, education or social protection.

What can we do to prevent or mitigate GBV? Research over the past three decades has shown that safety nets are a powerful tool to deliver a range of benefits beyond income and consumption, including health, nutrition, education, productivity and well-being. To protect and amplify these positive impacts, safety nets must be used more systematically to prevent gender-based violence.

Social safety nets are able to effectively reduce gender-based violence in three main directions: (1) reducing poverty and food insecurity, thus limiting the potential for conflict in families; (2) contributing to women’s empowerment, increasing their status in communities and reducing their dependence on others; and (3) increasing women’s social capital, self-esteem, self-efficacy and support networks.

It is possible to adapt and use the preventive and protective potential of social safety nets to combat gender-based violence. This year, the World Bank launched the study Safety First: How to Leverage Social Safety Nets to Prevent Gender-Based Violence, which includes, among others, good practices carried out in several countries. The study offers ideas for adjustments at each stage of implementing social protection services and benefits that can help amplify the protective effect and strengthen safety nets. It describes risks, opportunities, and mitigation measures at all key decision points in the development process to help practitioners make informed choices between options.

Social norms and drivers of violence are context-specific. In Brazil, the World Bank is supporting an innovative project to incorporate gender-based violence prevention in the state of Bahia. The Salvador project Preventing Gender Violence, implemented through the Social Assistance System, seeks to contribute to prevention by training social assistance professionals to support services and develop interventions by digital means, with expected results for the next year .

Effectively confronting gender-based violence requires a comprehensive work of prevention, response and mitigation, the crucial axis of which includes the design of programs that help create social norms aimed at building a society based on gender equality. We need to stop and every step towards ending gender-based violence needs to be taken.

In collaboration with the World Bank team: Alessandra Heinemann, Senior Specialist in Social Protection, Paula Tavares, Senior Specialist in Gender and Women’s Rights, and Rovane Battaglin Schwengber, Specialist in Social Protection.