After years of escalating abuse at the hands of her husband, Maria da Penha suffered a horrific act of violence in 1983 that left her paralyzed. Despite having shot and electrocuted his wife, da Penha’s husband remained free for nearly 20 years, protected by Brazil’s patriarchal culture and lack of laws protecting women against violence. Sadly, harrowing experiences like da Pehna’s are exceedingly common. They persist in every culture, country, and continent.
Violence against women and girls is the most pressing human rights issue of our time. Deemed “devastatingly pervasive” by the World Health Organization, it affects 1 in 3 women globally. In fact, more than 600 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not considered a crime.
Consequently, more than half of all women murdered worldwide are killed by their male partners or a family member. While not necessarily fatal, domestic abuse can also lead to debilitating health outcomes — such as addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder — for women and their children.
About the author
Francisco Rivera
Francisco Rivera is a human rights attorney, law professor, and founding director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Santa Clara University in California. He specializes in the inter-American human rights system and was a senior staff attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States that is based in Costa Rica. He has been a consultant for a number of NGOs, as well as for the United Nations Development Programme, the International Labour Organization, and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.
