“Maria da Penha Law” on male violence against women in Brazil: critical aspects and operational gaps of the protection and security system

Violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon that affects women of all social classes, nationalities, and ethnicities. Access to women's rights was only achieved through the many struggles of feminist movements and women's movements. Law 11,340/2006 – Maria da Penha Law was only enacted after many struggles by Brazilian women in favor of legislation that could protect them from domestic violence and punish the aggressors. In this context, this present research aims to analyze the connection between the application of the Maria da Penha Law in Brazil relation to the number of femicides that is still high. The research will be quantitative, and an analysis will be made of a 2013 IPEA survey, "Impact of Maria da Penha Law on female mortality due to aggression in Brazil, 2001-2011," by the author Garcia et al. (2013), this data will be used to analyze the number of deaths of women before and after the Maria da Penha Law came into force. The result of this research reported that the number of deaths is increasing in the country even after implementing the Maria da Penha Law. This research contributes to the academic world because it portrays the reality of several Brazilian women and how only the Law itself does not cause change. However, it must be complemented with the practical work of other governmental and institutional spheres, such as the legislative, legal, and executive.