Estadão’s Campaign Gives Voice To Women Victims Of Violence

Every day, 12 thousand women become silent victims of violence in Brazil. Their voices are just not heard, and often these women don’t even know how to get help. More than alarming, this number gives a heads up to the urgency of acting on this matter. To give voice to these victims and make people aware of the importance of fighting violence against women, Estadão, in partnership with Bold Agency, created the (Un)known Columnists Campaign.

The newspapers' team of columnists and bloggers put aside their expertise subjects and used their columns spaces to rewrite stories of real victims in first person, catching public attention and showing the audience that violence against women is an issue that should concern everyone - men and women.

“Our goal is to give voice to women who suffer violence. We must emphasize that it's always the aggressor’s choice and never the victims' fault. We can’t allow women to keep getting their lives scarred by violence”, explains Marcela Dalla Torre, Marketing Manager of Estadão. They also created a hashtag for the campaign, #deumavozportodas (that could be translated as #onevoiceandforall)

Several heavyweight voices from politics, economy, finances, entertainment joined the campaign. The Instituto Justiça de Saia, led by the state prosecutor Gabriela Manssur, helped to connect the campaign creators with almost 30 women who accepted to tell her stories of violence, some still ongoing. “What makes this campaign so powerful is the opportunity to use the space conquered by these prominent women that make themselves heard loud and clear to tell these dreadful stories that everybody needs to know about,” adds Daniele Marques, CCO of Bold.

The columnists heard the victims in person to be able to translate the emotions behind their stories, and to accurately illustrate the many types of violence they suffer every day: sexual, financial, psychological, virtual, just to name a few. “One can only understand the violence these women live in after stepping into their shoes. Only this way you can feel the hit, fear the threats, and get the shame”, says Gabriela Manssur. More than listen and give space to the sufferers, Estadão is committed to inform and help to raise awareness to this matter within the Brazilian society.

The spt was directed by Thiago Guimaraes from Thymus.