house. In other cases, women may not have the financial autonomy to afford the cost of travel or emotional autonomy to move alone. A 62-year old woman from Centro depended on her father to take her because she was not familiar with public transportation or with the city center.

# 3.4 **Facilitators in the search for formal support**

The following section presents a set of facilitators identified in the qualitative data that support women living in situations of violence to overcome personal and external barriers and seek help. It will explore how both informal institutions – family, friends and religious institutions – and formal institutions facilitate women’s help-seeking behaviors in Brazil within the context of this research.

3.4.1 Support from family, friends and community – Informal institutions Data from Brazil points to an increasing mobilization of society to support the victims of aggression. DataSenado’s 2017 national survey on domestic and family violence against women found that 90 percent of those interviewed would report a witnessed act of aggression against a woman. Recent research from Research Institute Avon (2016)<sup>21</sup> explores the role of men in the deconstructing of “ _machismo_ ,” finds that the majority of respondents recognize and reject inequality between men and women, 79 percent believe that machismo is something negative in Brazilian society, and 84 percent believe that all should fight for a world that is less “ _machista._ ” Importantly, the research also finds that 34 percent of men recently ceased to practice some sexist behavior.<sup>22</sup> While the study does not identify the drivers of attitude and behavioral change relative to VAW in Brazil, a growing body of global research has documented and analyzed the effectiveness of prevention programs targeting men, women and communities to reduce VAW in the midto long-term (see Alexander-Scott, Banjeree et al. 2017, Bell and Holden 2016, Cares et al. 2014, Ellsberg et al. 2015, Jewkes et al. 2015, Promundo 2012, UN Women 2015b, Verma et al. 2008).<sup>23</sup> International research finds that women who report that they have support from family and friends have been found to cope more successfully with violence and suffer less with regards to their mental health (Coker et al. 2002, Ellsberg et al. 2000). In the context of this research, women reported that family and friends helped them realize the seriousness of the situation and urged survivors to exit the violent relationship or seek institutional support. A 26-year old woman in Nova Iguaçú remembered encouragement she received from family: “My family always said, ‘Get out of his life because this man will kill you from the inside.” Another woman in the same center reported that the local school principal called her and informed her about the CIAM after her daughter told her classmates about a violent incident involving a knife. Yet another mentioned a local pastor who told her, “’This boy is pushing you away from your freedom . . . you are becoming blind – you like to dance, you like to be active, you like to talk to everybody. Now you are very quiet, you are very introspective...you are not coming around here that often anymore.’ Here is someone I regret not having listened to.” With the security that she will not be

> 21 After completing six in-depth interviews with experts from public agencies, the press and civil society organizations, the Institute held single-sex discussions with men and women aged 16 to 30 years in São Paulo.  These foundational conversations led to the national quantitative instrument, conducted face-to-face with 1,800 participants aged 16 and over in 70 municipalities across five regions of Brazil. Research was completed between September and November 2016.

> 22 These behaviors include: criticism of women who wear short or low-cut clothing, catcalling, saying a woman was promoted because of appearance or because of relations with superior, sharing nude photos of women without their consent, use of terms “slut” or “piranha” to describe women, use of violence (physical or verbal) to win argument with a woman, be aggressive with women to whom they are related, to try to take advantage of an intoxicated woman.

> 23 Approaches studied range from large-scale communications campaigns and “edutainment” series, to economic empowerment and asset ownership programs for women, to community mobilization or group education efforts to promote behavioral change specifically among men and boys and educate bystanders on response to VAW.

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