The neglected reality of feminicide in Brazil
Writen by Jenifer Sato
Last year, Brazil suffered a decrease in the percentage of MVI ( “Mortes Violentas Intencionais,’’ violent intentional assassination) of 5.4% from the years 2023 to 2024; however, at the same period, the country also experienced an increase of feminicide cases of 0,7%, with 1,492 cases in 2024. The number recorded was the highest amount of cases since the law against the crime was officially implemented in 2015. Studies of the Brazilian public security map report how femicide cases have an average of 4 incidents per day in 2024.
These numbers illustrate that the injustice of gender continues its increasing trajectory even in contrast with the criminal percentage of the general cases. This suggests that some action should be taken to prevent these crimes from occurring and escalating.
Feminicide is a topic that shouldn’t be ignored and forgotten, being a theme of discussion ever since the numbers didn’t stop rising from 2020 until now. Its importance shouldn’t be kept solely in papers and data. Feminicide is not just a statistic but an urgent social issue. Its topic demands more than reports and official numbers; it requires public debate, awareness, and concrete action to prevent the cycle of violence from worsening. This article will explore the rise of feminicide in Brazil, why it persists despite the other declines in violence, and what can be done to fight for justice and protect women’s lives.
The Feminicide crimes, despite being a legal recognition as a specific crime since 2015, persist, and continue to increase, which reveals the structural failure in the public safety, justice, and social protection systems in our country. For centuries, women were seen as belonging to the domestic sphere, subordinated to men under patriarchal norms reinforced by law, religion, and tradition. The idea of women as property first of the father, then of the husband, was deeply rooted in colonial society and carried into modern times. This legacy reasoned with male control over women’s bodies, choices, and even lives.
Even after legal changes and laws established, like the Lei Maria da Penha (2006) and the feminicide law (2015), groups and companies still follow a sexist view. One example is how police still minimize reports of domestic violence, how courts still delay protective measures, and how society still naturally blames women for “provoking” their aggressor. All of these misogynistic ideals against women help reinforce the cycle of silence and challenges against an equal community. In this idea, feminicide is not an isolated “crime” but instead is the result of the extreme portrayal of the historical and cultural structure that has normalized male dominance and female vulnerability.
Furthermore, a recent report made by the Instituto Fogo Cruzado portrays how firearms are turning into one of the main instruments of violence against women, with a 45% increase in cases involving guns in 2025 compared to 2024, with at least 29 victims just this year. This rise in gun violence could be connected with the past government decisions to facilitate the possession of firearms, that was loosened under former President Jair Bolsonaro and tightened again by President Lula. While gun purchases in general dropped under the current administration of the new president, some categories, like rifles for sport shooters, saw an increase in early 2025.
This trend connects with the broader data presented in the 18º Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública(Anual Brazillia Public Security ), which recorded an alarming 220% increase in civilian possession of firearms since 2017, adding up to nearly 4.8 million weapons circulating throughout the population. According to USP, the total is around 2 million that are legally registered, while 1.7 million have expired registrations, and nearly 900,000 are held by collectors, sport shooters, and hunters(CACs). The number of CACs alone jumped from 63,000 (2017) to almost 800,000 in 2022, showing how the legal flexibilization contributed to the widespread use of arms in homes.
As highlighted by Pedro Dallari, this has a direct connection to the rise in violent crime, including domestic violence and feminicide, because the greater the availability of weapons, the greater the risk of their misuse.
Additionally, the predominant setting of the feminicide cases is the domestic environment, emphasizing how women remain unsafe in their own homes, even though their original position is where protection and comfort should prevail. In 2025 alone, more than half of the victims were killed or attacked within their households, frequently by partners or ex-partners. These firearms were first introduced as a way to be used for protection and defense, but are instead used to repress women. Furthermore, most of those victims often feel guilty of reporting or alarming their signs of violence against their offenders, due to the fear of what the abuser could do against them, showing the little trust those women have in the system that was supposed to protect them. This pattern demonstrates that feminicide is not an isolated act of violence, but the continuation of a cycle of abuse, control, and threats often ignored or minimized by authorities until it is too late.
To start this article, you have to first understand what feminicide is.
Feminicide, against what many people believe, is not just the assassination of someone who happens to be a woman, but instead a crime that was motivated solely because the victims are women and that only.
In Brazil, the law defines femicide as a qualified homicide when the crime occurs in the context of the domestic sphere and family violence, or when there is contempt or discrimination against someone’s status as a woman. The law uses pillars to identify and confirm the homicide as femicide. The three main factors for this identification are:
- Intimate femicide: death of a woman committed by a man with whom she had or previously shared an intimate relationship. This man could be a husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, etc.
- Nonintimate feminicide: death of a woman committed by an unknown man or with no relationship with the victim.
- Connected Feminicide: the death of a woman who is in the “line of fire” that is in the same place where a man is killing or attempting to kill another woman.
( Those factors are the simplest and most basic types to help with the confirmation of a homicide as a feminicide)
Feminicide is not only a crime, but it’s also the direct reflection of the gender inequalities that are present in Brazil. It’s considered a preventable murder, resulting from a history of violence and discrimination that has been going on for centuries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSe08Kibwbo ( video explaining what feminicide is, in a simple way)
A famous recent case that happened this month is the attempt of femicide that occurred at the beginning of August 2025.
A tragic example of an attempt at this crime was the attempted feminicide that occurred in early August of 2025. The case was widely reported in the national media. In this case, the aggressor acted out of a belief that he had ownership and control over his partner’s life, a pattern that directly reflects the patriarchal mindset, which was inherited from Brazil’s colonial past. The violent act was not simply a matter of individual jealousy of the perpetrator but a demonstration and symbol of the gender inequality present in our nation, where men continue to see themselves as entitled to control women, even through violent force. The case also highlighted how fear and silence prevent many women from denouncing abuse earlier, since they often distrust that the justice system will protect them. This proves how the legacy of sexism still affects institutions and daily life, turning domestic spaces, which should be safe, into the most dangerous environments for women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=324fDXm0sww ( video showing the occurrence)
All in all, the rise of feminicide in Brazil, despite advances in legislation and improvements in the numbers of other forms of violent crime, exposes a profound contradiction in our society. While the country moves forward in some areas of security, it continues to fail women where they should feel safest. Feminicide is not an isolated crime but the most brutal portrayal of centuries of patriarchal culture, and structural sexism that still shape institutions and everyday life. The widespread circulation of firearms and the normalization of male dominance further intensify this reality, leaving women vulnerable in their own homes.
Breaking this cycle requires more than laws written on paper; it demands urgent action like investment in prevention actions in the national policies, rapid and effective protection measures, stronger accountability for aggressors, and, above all, a transformation of cultural values that fight violence against women. To silence these voices is to normalize injustice. To listen to them and act is to honor the fight for justice and ensure that women’s lives are no longer treated as disposable.
Bibliography
https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/nacional/brasil/feminicidio-bate-recorde-no-brasil-em-2024-diz-estudo/
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