Caminhos da Reportagem features women who have experienced domestic violence

On Monday (24), the TV Brasil airs, at 11pm, a new episode of the award-winning program Caminhos da Reportagem, which has as its theme Breaking the silence: information that saves women. Caminhos da Reportagem features women who have experienced domestic violence

The attraction shares stories of women who have been victims of domestic violence, but they managed to escape this cycle of aggression through information, reception, opportunity and support from a network of care services.

According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum, in research Visible and Invisible: Victimization of Girls and Womencarried out in 2024, one in three women in Brazil experienced a situation of violence. November 25th is marked as the International Day to End Violence against Women.

The TV Brasil program tells the story of Vanusa Pereira who lived in a 17-year relationship. After 12 years with his ex-partner, the violence began: first verbal; then, pushing; until attacks began to occur with “anything he had in his hand”.

“I remember it was a police officer who helped me, and he was a bit harsh. So, it makes you feel a lot of shame. But I needed to do that”, he says. Furthermore, she explains that she managed to escape the cycle of violence by fleeing the attacker with the help of her mother-in-law and neighbors.

Carollyna Oliveira also managed to break with the violence practiced by her ex-partner. To Caminhos da Reportagem, she reveals that the attacks even happened when she was seven months pregnant with her first daughter.

“Because of jealousy, he started hitting me, pushing me, pulling my arm, pulling my hair. And then we forgave him, until he started with the most severe attacks”, he recalls.

20 years of Ligue 180

Before going to a police station, Carollyna Oliveira sought information and guidance from Ligue 180, a public service created 20 years ago to combat violence against women. Free of charge, the number operates 24 hours a day, throughout the week.

Ligue 180 offers guidance on laws, women’s rights and support network services; information about the location of specialized services; recording and forwarding complaints to the competent bodies; in addition to recording complaints and compliments about the services provided.

Between January and October 2025, Ligue 180 answered more than 870 thousand calls by phone, WhatsApp, email and video calls in Libras. The general coordinator of Ligue 180, Ellen dos Santos Costa, states that the call center is a specialized channel for listening and welcoming women who are in situations of violence.

“Any woman, regardless of her age and condition, can call, and we will identify the minimum requirements to understand if this violence exists, provide her with this information and show her the channels or paths she can follow to break this cycle, to report this violence she is experiencing”, she explains.

Protection network

Ligue 180 is linked to an extensive women’s protection network, made up of services such as the Casa da Mulher Brasileira, the Reference Centers, the Women’s Service Stations (Deam), the Public Defenders’ Offices, the Integrated Women’s Service Centers, among others..

Casa da Mulher Brasileira was created in 2015 with the aim of bringing together, in a single space, various protection services for women. According to the Minister of Women, Márcia Lopes, Brazil has 11 units of the Casa da Mulher Brasileira in operation and the forecast is that, by the end of 2026, this number will reach 42.

“The more information women have, the more motivation, the more encouragement, the more our media favors this, the more governments favor and provide support and protection to women, the more they will speak out. So, we want reports to increase, but, obviously, we want no acts of violence to increase in the country”, says the minister.

In the Federal District, businesswoman and hairdresser Rutiely Santos, known as Morena, came across one of these spaces at a difficult time in her life, when she was separating from her ex-husband and finding herself with three young children, homeless and without income.

“The only thing I was sure of was that I was going to come here and have the opportunity to learn a skill, and that this course was the hope I had of being able to learn something to bring my daily bread to the table and hope for my children”, he says.

With a new profession, Rutiely Santos set up a beauty salon with her sister and says that today she lives much better.

For Renata Gil, advisor to the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and supervisor of the National Judicial Policy to Combat Violence against Women in the Judiciary, “information is everything”. “If you go to schools today and ask who knows the Maria da Penha Law, practically the entire class raises their hands. But they don’t know that what they experience at home is the violence provided for in the Maria da Penha Law. So, it is necessary to make this match, to combine the fact with the law”, he highlights.