Epidemiological Analysis of Crimes Against Women in Santa Catarina, Brazil (2014-2020)Abstract
The objective of this study was to conduct an epidemiological analysis of crimes against women in the State of Santa Catarina over a time series from 2014 to 2020, using data provided by the Santa Catarina State Department of Public Security. The findings revealed that, per one hundred thousand female inhabitants, the highest average prevalence was observed in patrimonial violence (1,323.41), followed by psychological/moral violence (993.79), physical violence (624.99), sexual violence (40.59), homicides (2.55), and femicides (1.16). Furthermore, women in Santa Catarina are 11.3 times more likely to be victims of femicide perpetrated by individuals within their domestic environment compared to those outside of it.
Keywords:
Femicide; Violence; Epidemiology; Public Health; Human Rights
Resumo
O objetivo foi analisar epidemiologicamente os crimes contra as mulheres no Estado de Santa Catarina, em uma série temporal de 2014 a 2020. Os dados foram disponibilizados pela Secretaria de Estado da Segurança Pública de Santa Catarina. Os resultados apontaram que, a cada cem mil habitantes femininos, a prevalência média mais elevada foi em violência patrimonial (1.323,41), seguido de violências psicológica/moral (993,79), violência física (624,99), violência sexual (40,59), homicídios doloso e culposo (2,55) e feminicídios (1,16). A chance de uma mulher em Santa Catarina ser vítima de feminicídio por uma pessoa que faz parte do seu âmbito doméstico é 11,3 vezes maior do que ser cometido por pessoas fora deste contexto.
Palavras-chave:
Feminicídio; Violência; Epidemiologia; Saúde Pública; Direitos Humanos
Gender-based violence against women encompasses acts that cause or may cause physical, sexual, or psychological harm, adversely impacting the health and well-being of victims in various dimensions (Garcia et al., 2013). This form of violence, complex and multidimensional, is a serious social, public health, and human rights issue. It transcends social classes, religions, and other social categories, being intrinsically structured both in individuals and institutions (Labiak et al., 2021; Okabayashi et al., 2020).
Gender attributes specificities to violence against women. According to Butler (1990; 2009), gender is a social and cultural construction, constituted by a set of practices and behaviors that are reiterated and recognized within a specific cultural context. From this perspective, gender-based violence against women is not merely an attack on individuals but an attempt to reinforce and control gender norms, punishing those who do not conform to or who challenge these norms (Butler, 1990; 2009). Thus, physical, sexual, psychological, or economic aggressions against women are not merely isolated incidents but acts that seek to reaffirm and perpetuate structures of power and domination based on gender (Garcia et al., 2013; Labiak et al., 2021; Okabayashi et al., 2020).
According to Brazilian Law No. 11.340/2006, popularly known as the Maria da Penha Law, violence against women may manifest in different forms: physical, psychological, moral, patrimonial, and sexual, among others (Brazil, 2006). While physical violence is often visibly expressed through bodily assaults, psychological violence insidiously affects and damages psychological functions. Moral violence is characterized by acts such as slander, defamation, and/or insult, compromising the victim’s honor, image, and integrity. Patrimonial violence occurs when there is retention, subtraction, or destruction of property, documents, or resources, undermining the victim’s economic stability. Sexual violence is broad in scope and includes acts such as forced or coerced sexual relations, assaults, unwanted sexual advances or comments, and activities directly targeting a person’s sexuality, regardless of the relationship with the perpetrator (Labiak et al., 2022; World Health Organization [WHO], 2012). These forms of violence not only violate fundamental rights, such as women’s autonomy and dignity, but also erode their social condition as subjects, leaving deep scars that affect their physical and psychological health and limit their full participation in community and working life.
Homicides and femicides represent extreme manifestations of violence, exposing systemic and cultural gaps that sustain women’s vulnerability (Labiak & Araújo, 2023; Labiak et al., 2021; World Health Organization [WHO], 2012). Although both imply the deprivation of life, the terms carry relevant legal distinctions. Homicide refers to the act of taking another person’s life, without gender being a determining factor in the occurrence of the crime (Brazil, 1940). Femicide occurs when the killing of a woman is committed for reasons related to her condition as a female, especially in situations involving domestic and family violence or contempt for, or discrimination against, her status as a woman (Brazil, 1940, art. 121-A, §1, items I and II). This distinction is crucial, as femicide goes beyond the mere suppression of life, representing the ultimate expression of gender inequality (Labiak et al., 2021; Paula et al., 2023). Its inclusion among heinous crimes in the Brazilian legal framework underscores its gravity and requires the adoption of stricter legal and social measures for prevention, accountability, and enforcement (Brazil, 2015; Brazil, 1990).
Understanding the phenomenon of femicide is essential not only to highlight the severity of violence against women but also to uncover its roots and the contours of the multiple intersectionalities that shape it. By analyzing femicide in its complexity, it becomes possible to identify patterns and interconnections among different manifestations of violence, revealing how they intertwine and reinforce each other. Comprehending femicide contributes to the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies, which should not be limited to holding perpetrators accountable but must also address the social and cultural structures that perpetuate gender inequality and women’s vulnerability (Butler, 1990; Labiak & Araújo, 2023; Garcia et al., 2013).
In Brazil, there are specific laws (such as Laws No. 11.340/2006, No. 13.104/2015, No. 13.798/2019, and No. 14.188/2021) aimed at curbing the various forms of violence against women and punishing those responsible for such acts. However, since Law No. 13,104/2015 incorporated femicide into the Brazilian legal system, persistently high rates of these crimes have continued to be observed in the country. Reported cases increased from 929 in 2016 (the first year of the law’s enforcement) to 1,400 in 2022, representing an approximate increase of 50.7% over the period (Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security, 2023). Furthermore, it is important to highlight that reports related to different forms of violence against girls and women have also shown a significant increase over the years. This trend reflects, on one hand, greater awareness and reporting of cases, but, on the other hand, underscores the urgency of adopting more effective measures to protect this vulnerable segment of the population (Paula et al., 2023).
Laws are fundamental for classifying the various forms of violence and crimes committed against women, serving both as instruments for reporting and as the basis for holding perpetrators criminally accountable. They enable the creation of structural conditions for long-term cultural transformation. It should be noted, however, that their effectiveness is limited: because of their predominantly punitive nature, they are insufficient to comprehensively prevent, eliminate, or mitigate violence, and to fully repair the harm suffered by victims (Labiak et al., 2021; Labiak et al., 2022).
When investigating gender-based violence and crimes from an epidemiological perspective, the aim is to understand their occurrence and distribution within the female population, identifying the most frequent types and their respective outcomes (Flury & Nyberg, 2010). This approach enables evaluation of the effectiveness of prevention and protection interventions directed at women, as well as to construct explanatory models capable of describing observed patterns and predicting new cases.
The invisibility of what is not recorded, quantified, or compared becomes irreparable without the proposition of concrete actions. Epidemiological data, in this sense, reveal an alarming reality that reinforces the need for more effective public policies and protection mechanisms tailored to the specificities of this population (Silva & Oliveira, 2016). In light of this scenario, the present study aims to epidemiologically analyze crimes committed against women in Santa Catarina between 2014 and 2020, estimating the risk of femicide based on variables such as the domestic sphere, race/color, marital status, age group, and the state’s mesoregions.
Method
An epidemiological study was conducted using a descriptive design and a quantitative approach, grounded in the analysis of prevalence and incidence estimates, as well as mortality and case-fatality rates (Bonita et al., 2010), based on reports of violence and crimes against women recorded in Police Incident Reports (Boletins de Ocorrência [BOs]/SC) made available by the Santa Catarina State Department of Public Security (Secretaria de Segurança Pública do Estado de Santa Catarina [SSP/SC], 2021). The database covered the period from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2020.
This was a secondary database composed of 739,649 records of incidents involving violence and crimes against women. Of this total, 1,095 records were excluded from the present study because they did not correspond to the classifications categorized in the Individual Notification Form (Ficha Individual de Notificação [FIN]) of the Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação [SINAN]), which includes: physical violence, psychological and moral violence, property violence, homicides (manslaughter and intentional homicide), and femicides. The SINAN FIN is used to build the national reference database for studies on violence and groups psychological and moral violence into a single category. Thus, 738,554 incidents of violence and crimes against women in Santa Catarina were analyzed.
The incidence rate was calculated as a percentage, whereas the prevalence index and the mortality and case-fatality rates were calculated per 100,000 female inhabitants per year (Bonita et al., 2010). Estimates of the female population for the years under study were based on the Demographic Census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística [IBGE], 2010), which provides data by sex and state of origin.
The estimation of femicide risk was carried out in two stages. First, Pearson’s chi-square test of association was performed to examine hypotheses regarding the relationship between the dependent variable, femicide, and the other independent variables (crime committed by someone within the victim’s domestic sphere, race/color, marital status, age group, and the mesoregions of Santa Catarina). Next, logistic regression was applied to identify risk factors, including the analysis of odds ratios, in order to confirm the results obtained in the first-stage tests. Statistical significance was set at p < .05.
The software used in this study included Excel (version 2010) for data formatting and table presentation; R (version 3.6.1) for statistical analyses and hypothesis testing; and the MySQL database for data storage and retrieval. All ethical precautions were taken to prevent the identification of victims or the establishment of links between incidents of violence and the women involved.
Results and Discussion
The calculation of the annual prevalence per 100,000 female inhabitants enabled the determination of the burden of violence among the female population of Santa Catarina from 2014 to 2020. This analysis revealed the average prevalence rates, ranked in descending order, as follows: patrimonial violence (1,323.41), psychological/moral violence (993.79), physical violence (624.98), sexual violence (40.59), homicides (intentional and negligent) (2.55), and femicides (1.16), as detailed in Table 1. This metric provides a comprehensive measure of the magnitude of violence experienced by women in the region during the study period.
Property-related violence maintained the highest prevalence rates across all years investigated, with particular emphasis on 2019 (1,531.67), when it increased by 24.72% compared to the previous year and by 2.62% compared to the following year. This type of violence, which may or may not be perpetrated by individuals within the victim’s domestic sphere, is defined as any conduct involving the retention, subtraction, or partial or total destruction of objects, work tools, personal documents, assets, valuables, rights, or financial resources (Brazil, 2006; Instituto Maria da Penha [IMP], 2018). In cases where victims and perpetrators maintain an intimate relationship, property-related violence rarely occurs in isolation. It is often used as a strategy to control the victim through the appropriation or retention of her belongings, with the aim of silencing her and keeping her in a state of submission in the face of psychological, physical, sexual, and moral aggressions (Mendes & Freitas Júnior, 2021; Pereira et al., 2013).
Psychological and moral violence combined also showed high prevalence rates, recording an increase of 53.27% between 2014 (817.13) and 2020 (1,252.47). Psychological violence against women is defined in Brazilian Law No. 14,188 of 2021 as “causing emotional harm to a woman” in a way “that damages and disrupts her full development or aims to degrade or control her actions, behaviors, beliefs, and decisions,” with such harm being inflicted “through threat, coercion, humiliation, manipulation, isolation, blackmail, ridicule, restriction of the right to come and go, or any other means that undermines her psychological health and self-determination” (Brazil, 2021, n.p.). Moral violence refers to acts such as slander, defamation, and/or insult (Brazil, 2006; IMP, 2018).
All forms of violence can compromise the biopsychosocial development of girls and women, producing negative impacts that manifest in the short, medium, and long term (Labiak & Cruz, 2025). Among these forms, psychological and moral violence deserve emphasis because they are often described as invisible. This invisibility stems from the difficulty of quantifying them, as they rely on socially constructed and naturalized models of conjugality, femininity, and masculinities considered acceptable. Such models, internalized without critical questioning, perpetuate oppressive, violent, and limiting practices, hindering both the recognition of victims and the accountability of perpetrators (Labiak et al., 2022).
The different forms of gender-based violence against women may occur either in isolation or simultaneously. The occurrence of mixed violence, when distinct types coexist, tends to produce more severe negative impacts on the victims’ mental health. Given the inherent challenge in psychometric studies of establishing direct causal relationships between violence and psychological harm, the need for a multimethod approach by protection teams becomes evident. Such an approach should integrate psychometric data with clinical, socioeconomic, and epidemiological information, thereby enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the types of violence experienced and their consequences (Vilariño et al., 2018). In this context, it is essential that the professionals involved be adequately trained to provide appropriate referrals tailored to the specificities of each case.
Physical violence showed the third-highest prevalence rate during 2014-2020, peaking in 2019 (841.25), when the number of cases was 58.74% higher than the previous year and 14.13% higher than the following year. Brazilian Law No. 11,340/2006 defines it as any conduct that harms a woman’s bodily integrity or health (Brazil, 2006). From an epidemiological perspective, studies such as those by Baigorria et al. (2017) and Flury & Nyberg (2010) indicate that women aged between 31 and 40, married, and unemployed are among the most vulnerable to physical violence.
In this study, according to the data analyzed, it was identified that the most recurrent form of physical violence was battery, characterized by punches, kicks, and the practice of holding the victim’s head and rubbing it against surfaces, most often causing injuries located in the head and neck region. These findings highlight the severity of the pattern of aggression, which goes beyond immediate bodily harm and reveals a modus operandi of extreme brutality, with potential to characterize attempted femicide. The choice of regions such as the face, head, and neck is not random: by targeting the face, the perpetrator seeks to mark, humiliate, and diminish the woman’s identity, attacking her social image and self-esteem. Aggressions directed at the head and neck expose not only physical vulnerability but also a clear intention of domination and silencing, since these areas concentrate vital and communicative functions, such as vision, speech, and breathing. Thus, more than bodily injuries, these acts constitute a symbolic and material attack on the victim’s integrity, dignity, and very power to exist.
Sexual violence showed a 123.59% increase in notification prevalence from 2014 (28.70) to 2020 (64.17) (Table 1). It is defined as any conduct that coerces a person to witness, engage in, or participate in unwanted sexual activity through intimidation, threats, coercion, or use of force (Brazil, 2006; Instituto Maria da Penha [IMP], 2018). To better understand the nuances of this form of violence, White et al. (2021) analyzed medical records of patients treated between 2017 and 2019 in the United Kingdom. The study revealed that many women were sexually assaulted in their own homes, and in several cases, children were also involved in the assaults, with 15.7% of victims nearly dying as a result. When perpetrated by individuals within the domestic or family sphere, sexual violence tends to recur, perpetuating cycles of control and domination. In this context, 27% of women reported having already been victims of sexual violence by the same perpetrator, indicating that a considerable number of individuals live in a constant state of fear and risk (White et al., 2021).
Femicide showed an increase of 126.25% in average annual prevalence rates, rising from 0.80 in 2014 to 1.81 in 2020, as presented in Table 1. In a study conducted by Ávila (2021) in the Federal District, most femicide cases had been preceded by episodes of physical or psychological violence, such as death threats. Furthermore, many victims had already separated from their intimate partners or were in the process of separation.
Incidence is understood as the variation in the number of occurrences over specific periods. In this study, a progressive increase was observed in the number of new cases of violence and crimes against women, with growth already identified in 2015 compared to 2014, continuing in the subsequent years until 2020. In other words, calculating incidence in percentage terms allowed for the identification and measurement of new cases of violence and crimes affecting the female population in Santa Catarina throughout the analyzed period (Table 1).
In Table 1, incidence percentages reveal that violence and crimes against women in Santa Catarina followed a continuum, despite variations observed between 2014 and 2020. In some years, negative incidence rates were identified, indicating reductions in the number of police reports filed. However, in 2019, the highest levels of reported violence and crimes against women were recorded. In descending order, the highest incidences were intentional and unintentional homicides (94.12), femicides (85.71), sexual violence (76.61), physical violence (60.76), and patrimonial violence (26.31).
In Table 2, all types of violence described in Table 1 were included for the calculation of mortality and lethality rates. Overall, there was a 48.87% increase in the number of reports of violence and crimes committed against women in Santa Catarina between 2014 and 2020.
Mortality and lethality rates of gender-based violence and crimes against women in the State of Santa Catarina (2014 to 2020)
When calculating the mortality rate per 100,000 female inhabitants in Santa Catarina, it was possible to analyze the impact of violence and crimes reported in police records on the female population. Between 2014 and 2020, the average risk of death among women in Santa Catarina as a result of such violence and crimes was 3.72, highlighting the urgency of addressing the structural issues of a society marked by conflicts that claim women’s lives.
These data also underscore the severity of the consequences of gender-based violence against women, which extend beyond lethality. They include the recurrence of violent episodes, the progressive escalation of aggression, severe or moderate physical injuries, psychological deterioration affecting both victims and their families, economic and property-related losses, as well as social and labor impacts that undermine women’s autonomy, dignity, and full exercise of citizenship.
The female mortality rate resulting from reports of gender-based violence and crimes in Santa Catarina increased by 43.0% between 2014 and 2020, rising from 3.16 in 2014 to 4.52 in 2020 (Table 2). In contrast, in Brazil, the mortality rate from homicides of women per 100,000 female inhabitants showed gradual reductions during the same period, decreasing from 4.3 in 2017 to 3.6 in 2020. Feminicides, however, have consolidated as a persistent continuum, with relatively stable rates of 1.1 in 2017 and 2018, and 1.2 in 2019 and 2020 (Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security, 2023).
As presented in Table 2, the mortality rate showed more abrupt variations in 2018, 2019, and 2020. There was a 8.25% reduction in 2018 (2.89), followed by a significant 88.93% increase in 2019 (5.46), and subsequently another 17.22% reduction in 2020 (4.52). This fluctuation raises concerns, as it may indicate both problems in recording and underreporting of cases, as well as methodological inconsistencies in data collection. However, it is important to emphasize that such variations may also reflect real changes in the social dynamics of violence, capturing moments of higher or lower prevalence of lethal crimes against women. Thus, the variation in the mortality rate should not be interpreted solely as a statistical flaw, but also as a possible expression of contextual transformations in the scenario of gender-based violence against women.
Research also points to the structural underreporting of feminicides in Brazil, particularly due to the exclusion of transfeminicides, which distorts official figures. Many victims are transgender women who remain invisible in statistics, either because of the lack of adequate legal classification or due to the erasure of their gender identities in official records. Furthermore, the occurrence of these crimes in public spaces -such as streets and peripheral areas - often does not receive proper attention from gender and public security policies, contributing to the lack of accurate records and the underestimation of the severity of the phenomenon (Benevides & Nogueira, 2021).
With the calculation of the lethality rate, it was possible to identify the proportion of women victims of violence and crimes (reported in police records in Santa Catarina) who died as a result of feminicide or homicide. Overall, it was observed that the average proportion of fatal cases in relation to the total number of reported cases of violence and crimes was 124.30 in the period from 2014 to 2020.
The lethality rate, per 100,000 female inhabitants, showed an increase of 25.17% between 2014 and 2019 and, in 2020, registered a decrease of 17.25% compared to the previous year (Table 2). These variations reveal that gender-based violence and crimes against women fluctuate annually or historically, have a long-standing presence over time, and are intensified by the inertia of the State, as well as by the precariousness and/or absence of public policies (Labiak & Araújo, 2023; Labiak et al., 2021).
The highest lethality and mortality rates among the female population in Santa Catarina occurred in 2019, which may be related to the implementation of the Integrated Public Security System (SISP)/Integrated Police Report, which helped to prevent data bottlenecks. It is worth noting that, in 2019, the government of the State of Santa Catarina mandated, through a decree, its use to unify the databases and police reports of the military and civil police in a digital platform named Integra. This system increased productivity in public security by avoiding duplicate records and the consequent rework by officers (Santa Catarina, 2019).
The mortality and lethality rates of all reported cases of violence and crimes against women (physical, psychological/moral, patrimonial, sexual, homicides, and feminicides) decreased in 2020 by 17.21% and 17.24%, respectively, compared to 2019. This decline may be related to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the adoption of public health measures-physical social isolation and quarantine-to contain contagion and prevent illness. Family dynamics were deeply altered by the prolonged stay of household members at home, due to remote work, reduced working hours, or even unemployment. In this context, perpetrators of violence and victims were forced to coexist for longer periods in the same space, while access to public security (police and specialized police stations) and responses from the justice system were hindered, either due to the difficulty victims faced in distancing themselves from perpetrators or due to the reduced functioning of institutions as a result of sanitary restrictions (Madeira et al., 2021; Miguel & Labiak, 2020).
It is estimated that gender-based violence against women within the domestic sphere increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to underreporting-whether from the absence of formal complaints or lack of registration by authorities-the recorded rates tend not to reflect the actual public health reality (Brasil, 2020; Madeira et al., 2021; Miguel & Labiak, 2020). In this study, it was identified that, during the years analyzed (2014 to 2020), there was a higher prevalence of femicides committed by individuals from the victim’s domestic environment. In 2019, the prevalence was 11.63, and in 2020 it rose to 13.41, an increase of 15.3% from one year to the next.
As shown in Table 2, reports of violence and crimes against women in Santa Catarina increased by 1.23% between 2019 and 2020. For comparison, at the national level, the Federal Government’s hotlines “Disque 100” and “Ligue 180” registered 91,043 reports of women victims of some form of domestic violence between January and September 2020. Compared to the same period in 2019, this represented a 34% increase (Brasil, 2020). In Santa Catarina, in 2020, reports of femicide increased by 1.54%, while reports of female homicides (intentional and unintentional) decreased by 25.0% compared to 2019 (Labiak et al., 2021).
It is therefore necessary to reflect on the underreporting by women in relation to perpetrators of violence within their domestic sphere. Brazil went through a critical sanitary and economic period during the COVID-19 pandemic, which further aggravated this issue. Perpetrators of violence are not always immediately removed from victims after a report, and even when protective measures are in place, judicial and public security mechanisms often prove fragile in ensuring effective protection. In many cases, the formalization of a complaint exposes women to additional risks, as perpetrators may retaliate with acts of revenge, intensifying violent behavior.
Alongside the fragility of public security and the judiciary in guaranteeing the protection of victims, the economic crisis intensified by the pandemic further worsened the situation of women. Job losses and persistent inequalities in the labor market exposed many women to financial dependence, leading a significant number of them to remain in abusive or violent relationships despite the risks involved (National Household Sample Survey - Continuous, 2021).
Gender-based violence against women is a complex phenomenon that must be addressed through a preventive approach, articulated across health, public security, justice, psychosocial assistance, and employment systems, rather than relying solely on institutional responses after violent incidents occur. Reports of violence should be understood as a surveillance strategy to monitor and track harm, thereby enabling the creation and strengthening of multimodal public policies. However, these areas cannot remain dependent on the formalization of complaints to develop effective prevention strategies. It is essential to integrate the educational field, fostering awareness of historically unequal, segregating, and sexist gender roles. In the realm of employment, ensuring women’s financial autonomy is a crucial measure for empowerment and for securing equality of opportunities in the labor market.
Social, cultural, economic, and health contexts directly influence the ways in which women’s bodies are violated, underscoring the urgency for governments to build coordinated response networks across all levels of responsibility. Given that gender-based crimes are socially and institutionally normalized, it is necessary to reaffirm that they are preventable and that state action can - and must - reduce harm and prevent new cases, while taking into account regional specificities (Guilland et al., 2021).
The devaluation or discrimination based on the female gender and domestic and/or intrafamilial violence (Brazil, 2015) are so longstanding that they have become culturally internalized and perceived as part of customary relationships, failing to elicit shock, outrage, or social mobilization. In contrast, such normalization generates significant costs for both society and the State. The Court of Accounts of Santa Catarina calculated the economic impact of 353 femicides that occurred between 2011 and 2018, estimating a burden of more than R$ 424.3 million on public coffers during this period, which represents a per capita value of R$ 60.60. The calculation accounted for work absences, trauma to families and children, as well as public expenditures on medical care, the judiciary, public defenders, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and other institutions (Rodrigues & Raupp, 2021).
To examine certain particularities of femicide in Santa Catarina, Table 3 was developed. It employed Pearson’s chi-square test (χ²) to verify the presence of risk factors (domestic relationship, race/ethnicity, marital status, age group, and mesoregions) and the frequency of femicide.
The data presented in Table 3 indicate that the variables race/ethnicity, marital status, and age group were not determinants for the occurrence of femicides in Santa Catarina. However, a strong correlation was found between the practice of femicide and the fact that the crime was committed by individuals belonging to the victims’ domestic context (p < 0.0001). In other words, it was estimated that the probability of a woman being a victim of femicide by someone from her domestic environment is 11.3 times greater than the likelihood of the crime being perpetrated by individuals outside this context.
In this study, it was observed that the average prevalence of femicides committed by individuals from the victims’ domestic context was 62.82% between 2014 and 2020 when correlating the victims’ marital status with cases of femicide committed by someone within their domestic environment, 96 cases involved married women or those in stable unions, 73 involved single women, 25 divorced women, 7 widows, and 21 cases where marital status was not reported.
The killing of women in these contexts stems from their condition as females, constituting a modus operandi rooted in social, cultural, and sexual practices. Women are often treated as property - initially of their fathers and subsequently of their spouses - and subjected to violence at different levels and in various forms, as strategies of oppression, coercion, correction, punishment, subordination, and control (Beauvoir, 2009). In this process, their rights, autonomy, integrity, and lives are systematically violated and nullified (Labiak et al., 2022).
The calculation of the odds ratio made it possible to compare the occurrences of femicide across different regions, using the Greater Florianópolis mesoregion as the reference in relation to the other five mesoregions. The data indicate that women living in the Serrana and Western mesoregions of Santa Catarina are 3.3 times more likely to become victims of femicide compared to those in Greater Florianópolis. The average prevalences (2014-2020) in these mesoregions were 4.52 and 3.74, respectively, making them the highest in the state. A possible explanation for these rates may be associated with cultural factors, socioeconomic conditions, the absence or insufficiency of public policies, and the precariousness of services aimed at prevention, protection, shelter, and psychosocial care for women.
The Serrana and Western mesoregions are largely characterized by an economy based on agriculture and by small municipalities situated within a geography of fields, forests, and canyons. In these contexts, women face significant barriers in accessing economic opportunities due to the lack of recognition of their roles as workers. The oppression and subordination of women in rural areas are rooted in the naturalization of the patriarchal structure, which hierarchically organizes family arrangements sustained by the sexual/gender division of labor: men are assigned the role of financial providers, while women are relegated to caregiving of people and domestic spaces. This logic limits women’s autonomy and increases their vulnerability. Living in rural contexts amplifies the challenges of seeking help when experiencing violence, with or without risk of death, due to long geographic distances, difficulties in transportation, and the absence of specialized support and protection services in small towns (Guilland et al., 2021). Combined, these factors intensify the risks of femicide.
In rural areas, women often experience violence that is silenced and normalized, frequently without recognizing that the violations they endure are manifestations of violence. Given the seriousness and complexity of violence against women, social networks assume an ambiguous role, functioning both as risk factors and as protective elements. When women are isolated, breaking the cycle of violence becomes more difficult (Leite et al., 2017). On the other hand, fostering women’s economic empowerment also encourages the creation of business-oriented social networks, which help reduce isolation and enable greater autonomy and financial independence, both fundamental to strengthening their capacity to break free from abusive relationships.
It is estimated that the chances of femicide are 1.8 times higher in the Vale do Itajaí and 1.7 times higher in the Northern mesoregion of Santa Catarina when compared to Greater Florianópolis. The average prevalence rates of femicides in these mesoregions were 1.99 in Vale do Itajaí, 1.08 in Greater Florianópolis, and 0.88 in the Northern mesoregion. These regions include the state’s largest cities in terms of population - Joinville (n=16), Florianópolis (n=10), and Blumenau (n = 13) - which rank among the municipalities with the highest number of femicide cases between 2014 and 2020, along with Chapecó (n = 18), located in the Western mesoregion of Santa Catarina.
In large urban centers, femicide constitutes the main category among female homicides (Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security, 2023). However, the absence of more detailed official data that would allow a precise understanding of the number of deaths and the underlying causes often leads to women’s deaths being generically classified as the result of territorial disputes, political conflicts, shootouts, organized crime, or other types of homicide. Thus, although urban centers concentrate a larger female population and, consequently, higher homicide rates, there is a risk of underestimating or distorting the role and impact of gender-based violence in femicide records (Caicedo-Roa et al., 2019; Dahlberg & Krug, 2006).
Final Considerations
In this study, the average prevalence and annual incidence rates of different forms of violence against women in Santa Catarina were observed for the period from 2014 to 2020: patrimonial violence (p = 1,323.41 / i = 1,430.03), psychological/moral violence (p = 993.79 / i = 1,653.83), physical violence (p = 624.98 / i = 626.50), sexual violence (p = 40.59 / i = 135.81), intentional and unintentional homicides (p = 2.55 / i = 9.10), and femicides (p= 1.16 / i = 13.98). The average lethality rate (124.30) and the average mortality rate (3.72) related to these forms of violence and crimes were also identified. These findings provide an in-depth view of the nuances of gender-based violence in the state, underscoring the urgency of effective interventions, particularly in the areas of health and public security, aimed at preventing, mitigating, and addressing such situations.
When analyzing the variables of domestic context, race/ethnicity, marital status, age group, and mesoregions of Santa Catarina as risk estimates for femicide, it was found that a woman’s likelihood of being killed by someone within her own domestic sphere is 11.3 times higher than by someone outside that context. Gender-based violence and crimes serve as mechanisms of control and ownership over the female body, representing severe violations of fundamental rights, autonomy, integrity, and life. These crimes are exacerbated by state inaction and by the precariousness or absence of effective public policies. When the State fails to respond to gender-based violence against women, it implicitly determines which lives should be preserved and protected and which can be violated or taken, thereby perpetuating structural inequalities and women’s vulnerability.
The incidence of gender-based violence against women varies according to the definitions and conceptions of violence and femicide, as well as the data collection methodologies employed by state institutions. It is important to emphasize that these acts do not affect only the direct victims but also reverberate broadly throughout society, generating social, economic, and psychological harms that are difficult to measure. In this context, the responsibility of the State to act with due diligence in cases of violent deaths of women is paramount, ensuring investigations that are adequate, timely, and free from sexist or misogynistic biases. It is equally essential to reduce underreporting, since only the production of reliable and reality-based data can support the formulation of effective public policies aligned with the concrete needs of the population.
Regarding methodological limitations, it is worth noting that, because this study was conducted with secondary data, only the information available in official records was analyzed, restricted to the following independent variables: crimes committed by someone within the victim’s domestic sphere, race/ethnicity, marital status, age group, and mesoregion of Santa Catarina. However, for a broader understanding of risk factors, it is necessary to consider multiple sources of information in order to capture the complexity of the risks to which women in Santa Catarina may be exposed. In this sense, the importance of conducting new studies is highlighted, particularly those of qualitative and mixed-methods design, which can incorporate approaches that deepen the understanding of women’s lived experiences, identify specific vulnerabilities, and propose more effective strategies for prevention and protection.
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Research data is available on request from the corresponding author.
