Violence against women and the Maria da Penha law: challenges in the patriarchal-racist-capitalist society of the Brazilian State

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the phenomenon of violence against women in a patriarchal-racist-capitalist society, particularly in Brazil. As specific objectives, we intend to make analytical reflections on the Maria da Penha Law, considered the main legal framework for women's conquest of violence; and to point out challenges for the implementation of this law and for the construction of a life without violence. In order to acomplish these objectives, we have developed a bibliographical and documentary research of a fundamentally qualitative nature, even though the quantitative dimension is present in the manifestation of data on violence against women in Brazil. Our main conclusions are that violence against women is not restricted to personal relationships, but it is present in the whole social relations of sex, race and class that combine dialectically, exploit, oppress and subject women to multiple situations of inequality in relation to men; the Maria da Penha Law is the main and most advanced Brazilian legislation and has brought several normative advances, nevertheless, its effectiveness finds objective limits in a patriarchal-racist-capitalist State that foments multiple violence.