be a protective factor against violence (Levinson 1989, Counts et al. 1999, Counts et al. 1992, Perova et al. 2013). However, a dearth of rigorous evidence exists on the effectiveness of legislative and justice sector responses (including specialized police stations for women) and onestop centers – comprehensive care centers for survivors of VAW – to reduce VAW or mitigate negative consequences for survivors (Ellsberg et al. 2015).

The focus of this study is on the help-seeking behavior of women experiencing VAW in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The severe difficulties facing women living in situations of violence in seeking support have been illustrated in the multi-country study on violence against women conducted by WHO (2005). The data collected showed that across countries, over half of physically abused women (between 55 percent and 95 percent) reported that they had never sought help from formal services (health, justice or shelter) or from people in positions of authority (police, NGOs, local leaders, and religious leaders). The study shows further that even in those countries where services are available to survivors of violence, barriers such as fear, stigma and the threat of losing their children impeded women from seeking help. On the other hand, the top facilitators for supportseeking were the severity of the violence, the expected impact on children, and support to reach out to services from friends and family. Those often serve as the first contact for women in violent relationships – something that had also been shown in previous research for the United States (Rose et al 2000, Counts et al. 1999) – though, as will be seen in this paper, such contact can bear both impeding or facilitating functions.

Brazil has increased efforts to address violence against women since the early 2000s. Since the creation of the Federal Secretariat for Women’s Policies in 2003, anti-VAW policies and legislation have been strengthened. Efforts include the enactment of the Maria da Penha Law (MdP) in 2006, which has been internationally lauded as one of the most innovative and comprehensive legal instruments in the world to addresses the issue of domestic violence (UNIFEM 2008).<sup>4</sup> The Maria da Penha Law establishes special courts and stricter sentences for offenders and mandates other instruments for prevention, including specialized police stations and shelters for women. The law also seeks to build civil society capacity to monitor and evaluate policies designed to combat VAW in Brazil.<sup>5</sup> However, despite a robust legal framework to prevent and protect women from domestic violence, several barriers challenge the effective implementation of laws and policies. Some critics defend that, although the established policy and legal frameworks are progressive in many aspects, they also embed regressive components such as the prioritization of punitive measures to the detriment of protective and preventive efforts (Machado et al. 2017).

Although there is a lack of official and systematic data that adequately measure the extent of VAW in Brazil in its physical and non-physical forms,<sup>6</sup> existing data reveal the pervasiveness of the issue. A specialized World Health Organization survey from 2000 showed that approximately 41

> 4 Law cited alongside Spanish Laws (2004) and the Mongolian Law on violence against women. Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009, UNIFEM 2008, p. 76.

> 5 An overview of related laws, degrees as well as amendments to MdP can be found under:

> <u>http://www.compromissoeatitude.org.br/legislacao-sobre-violencia-contra-as-mulheres-no-brasil/</u>

> 6 There are two main sources of VAW data: data from specialized surveys and administrative data. The highest prevalence rates are obtained by specialized surveys that follow WHO ethical and safety standards. However, this type of data is expensive and not available in a continuous basis in Brazil. On the other hand, administrative data from security and health services are more accessible. However, they do not capture well non-physical forms of violence and tend to underestimate the problem due to underreporting and lack of technical capacity of service operators.

_3_