Each family has its share of pain, concessions and silence to exist. Following genealogy, we women often appear with a target on our backs, varying in situations of more or less vulnerability, depending on the amount of freedom achieved in each generation. This March 8, for example, highlights setbacks and violations of rights that should be guaranteed.
In 2026, International Women’s Day will be marked by demonstrations in the streets, especially in Brazil, in the fight against violence that is only increasing, against a system that swallows, chews and throws us away; against mentalities that do not know how to deal with their own frustrations and weaknesses and make others the deposit of their hatred.
In recent months, it seems that we are submerged in the waters of exhaustion, with our heads emerging from time to time to survive with minimal air. It is extreme violence, so much feminicide that discouragement appears first thing in the morning, when we access the news and social media. And yet another war is added, caused by a creature with the dream of being the owner of the world, bringing chaos and destruction with it.
Even the most resilient minds have been invaded by thoughts that the world seems hopeless, that humanity has gone wrong, that one day the planet will do something wrong. resetthat there is no safe place for a woman. They are screams saying in different ways: we can’t take it anymore, it’s no longer possible to live like this!
It can be at home, on the street, in the convent, in transport, at work, at school, on the plane, at a party, in the hotel, in the hospital, in the operating room.
He is the teacher, driver, judge, technician, politician, coach, building manager, doctor, firefighter, police officer. The father, cousin, stepfather, brother, boyfriend, godfather, ex-boyfriend, family friend, uncle, husband.
Insecurity and fear are part of the female routine. Almost every woman (I suspect all) has experienced some violence throughout her life. The statistics, despite underreporting, point to a frightening scenario.
Between 2004 and 2025, 709 women were murdered in Portugal. On average, 32 women per year. The data comes from the Observatory of Murdered Women, which is an unofficial monitoring initiative for femicides in the country, created by UMAR – União de Mulheres Alternativa e Response.
Brazil recorded a rape every six minutes in 2025, more than 220 victims per day, according to data from the Ministry of Justice. According to the publication “Retrato dos Feminicides no Brasil”, in 2025, there were 1568 victims of feminicide, 4.7% more than in 2024. Since the typification of the feminicide law, in March 2015, more than 13,700 women have been murdered because of their condition of being a woman.
On March 9, 2026, the well-known Maria da Penha Law turns 20, which represents one of the most relevant milestones in the policy to combat violence against women in Brazil. Domestic and family violence, previously considered only a private matter, was categorized as a violation of Human Rights and a matter of public policy.
While a world is still emerging in which a woman can return home unharmed and remain safe there, considering that the majority of attacks are carried out by partners or ex-partners, some measures are forging a sense of security.
In Rome and Venice, they were distributed kits free services to women to detect drugs in drinks. A young Portuguese woman created a peaceful grenade that emits an audible alarm and sends location alerts in times of danger. Friends share the location every time they leave the house and serve as a shelter when one of them wants to end an abusive relationship. Some women join self-defense classes and spray of pepper; others live with the “panic button”, to be activated when the aggressor against whom there is a protective measure approaches. Most pray: “May nothing bad happen to me. Amen.”
In the meantime, we just want the right to exist without fear.
We just want to be alive and free, to be whoever we want.
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