YouthPower
For women like Fernanda Ribeiro, building just, peaceful, and inclusive societies is dangerous. While it’s common for changemakers to encounter resistance, women paving new ground in Brazil are at risk of losing their lives.
Femicide, the killing of a woman or girl on account of her gender, increased by seven percent in Brazil from 2018 to 2019. While Brazil was the first country to pilot a new law that criminalizes femicide and introduced tougher penalties for those responsible for such crimes, the March 2018 murder of outspoken politician and LGBTQ advocate Marielle Franco threw femicide back into international conversation.
However, Fernanda does not let the fear silence her voice. She’s been working tirelessly to help more women become elected officials. Last year, while studying law as an undergraduate, she created Vote Nelas Fortaleza, a social project to increase female representation in politics in her city. The death of Marielle Franco inspired her to keep going. “She was a Black woman, a lesbian woman, a woman that came from favela (a low-income settlement), and she was killed because she did a great job. This inspired me and inspired all of my volunteers and all the women that were working with us … It was something that united us, the desire to change this reality,” Fernanda says.
Believe it or not, she says femicide has always been a part of her life. Growing up she saw cases of femicide on television, in her neighborhood, in her city. “I started studying law last year and when I understood this was not something that was an individual’s fault but something bigger, structural, I decided to do something,” Fernanda says.
In addition to starting Vote Nelas Fortaleza, she also volunteers for AIESEC, Politics4Her, and recently became the first YouthLead Ambassador from Brazil.
She believes that education is an integral part of the solution to many of the issues facing her generation and despite the barriers facing women entering politics, she’s motivated to press on.
“I choose not to close my eyes,” Fernanda adds.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the dangers women in Brazil face. Like so many countries being ravaged by the pandemic, Brazil is struggling to find its footing. They are experiencing an increase in infections, and recently, a spike in a new variant of the disease.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has currently ranked Brazil at a Level 4, the highest alert used to warn travelers about threats to their health at particular destinations.
“We can say that our situation is getting worse and the worst part is that we cannot count on our government. The situation is terrible to be honest. The government [did not] really believe in the coronavirus pandemic. Our president [ Jair Bolsonaro] said it was just a flu,” Fernanda says, adding that enacting stay-at-home orders might have made a difference in reducing the numbers, but there are secondary impacts.
According to the United Nations, stay-at-home orders may help reduce infections, but they increase the risk of gender-based violence. Women and girls are often trapped with their assailants and help that may otherwise be available is restricted logistically and financially.
“We are experiencing a health and economic crisis,” says Fernanda. “Cases of domestic violence have increased a lot. We are having a daily average of about 1,000 deaths.”
Like many of us, Fernanda does not know what to expect in 2021, but she does know she will not stop working towards a more inclusive society. The contributions of young leaders, like Fernanda, put us closer to #Reaching16 and the other sustainable development goals.
