By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – New research by IBOPE and the United Nations (UN) Women released this week shows that 75 percent of Brazilians consider it to be of great or extreme importance that managers and legislators develop policies to promote equality between women and men.
Considering survey results from only women, the number grows to 78 percent, while among men it is 71 percent. When applying a filter by race and color, the numbers found are similar.
For 75 percent of whites, 74 percent of blacks (blacks and non-white) and 78 percent of self-declaring people of another race/color (asian and indigenous, for example), the development of public policies on gender equality has “a lot/extreme” importance.
According to sociologist and subject expert, Fatima Jordão, despite all the historical inequalities for people with different conditions of race and ethnicity in Brazil, research shows that a high and homogeneous demand for gender equality continues.
“In a racist country like ours, gender inequality is an important concern for three out of four Brazilians. This fact reinforces the need to discuss and propose policies to make cities more egalitarian especially for black women, who suffer more from the effects of discrimination,” Jordão said in a statement.
Rane Souza, director at RS Language Services, who is from Minas Gerais but has lived in Rio for years shares, “[Gender inequality] is a huge issue because it fosters violence against women and LGBTI people causing thousands of casualties every year.”
Adding “The problem [now in Brazil] is worse because the current administration is cutting all sorts of support to government-led Human Rights initiatives as well as gender equality initiatives. Therefore, such a dire political scenario is bound to stimulate violence targeted at vulnerable minorities, such as poor black women and poor LGBTI.”
For the representative of the UN Women in Brazil, Nadine Gasman, the information is in agreement with the challenges assumed by the Brazilian government in the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
“We started to have data about the perceptions of Brazilians and Brazilians about their living conditions in the context of gender relations, as well as the indication of what should be done by mayors and mayors in key areas of a city’s life,” she said in a footnote.
International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th every year to varying degrees around the world. Domestic violence is responsible for the deaths of five women per hour in the world, according to the non-governmental organization (NGO) ActionAid, and in Brazil, from 1980 to 2013 another report shows the number has increased by over 250 percent.