Miguel Fontes has a degree in Administration from the Catholic University of Brasília, a master's degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in Public Health from the same university. He has experience in developing corporate social responsibility programs, preparing public and economic policy analyses, consulting for non-governmental and social organizations in strategic management, Social Impact Assessment projects, projects with children and adolescents living on the streets, work and orphanhood due to AIDS, design of data collection and research and evaluation of projects and social mobilization. His field experience spans Latin America and the United States in developing sustainability strategies.
He is director of John Snow Brasil and president of the deliberative council of Instituto Promundo. In this interview, Miguel Fontes brings his perspectives on the data and relationships between the research “Scaling Gender Violence in Brazil: A study on perceptions and experiences of violence among women” and the report “Situation of Fatherhood in the World: Time to Act ”
1) What is your assessment/reflection on the results of the research “Dimensioning Gender Violence in Brazil: A study on perceptions and experiences of violence among women” and its effects on current Brazilian society? Does anything catch your attention the most?
The study presents very clear vulnerabilities by social profile (e.g. age and education). However, it is surprising to see that the economic condition does not represent greater vulnerability. In other words, women from all social classes and even in some cases, women with higher incomes are affected in the same way by gender-based violence. Furthermore, it draws attention to the negative consequences of gender-based violence for your health and well-being and understands which supposedly relationship and loving environments are the most conducive for this violence to occur.
2) What is the relevance of this type of data collection for the transformation or change in this scenario of gender violence in Brazil today?
The study has direct implications for the areas of health and education. In relation to the health area, policies to promote women's health must incorporate actions to identify cases of gender-based violence and support mental health for women (including transgender people) who suffer gender-based violence. In relation to education, policies for educational actions that promote healthy relationships (such as responsible parenthood, marital dialogue, positive relationships, gender equity, sexual diversity, among other topics) must be implemented universally in public and private primary and secondary schools. all over the country.
3) Observing the data from the report “State of Fatherhood in the World: Time to Act”, how important is it to understand the state of men's involvement in fatherhood and care for the prevention of violence against women?
What I found most interesting is that it seems like a very clear message, based on the data collected, that it is not enough to have a son or a daughter to be called a father. That fatherhood really is a much broader perspective in terms of mastering emotions, involvement in child care, understanding the teenager. It is a much more knowledgeable perspective on what it means to be a father, how this applies in real life, rather than merely being a question of having a father figure, a social status, a biological issue.
Fatherhood is transversal to a series of themes that we work on today in social development, which are related to education, health care, care and respect for issues linked to diversity and gender, including the prevention of violence against the woman. I think the main message the report brings is this – fatherhood is not social status, it is involvement, interest and care in this relationship with a woman, as a spouse or in another relationship that is stable, in a relationship with a son or daughter. .
4) In your opinion, what data from this report points to positive prospects for the future in the involvement of men in fatherhood and care to promote gender equality and prevent violence?
What caught my attention is that the report provides indications for strengthening public education and health policies, from childhood, at school, for example, in health centers, in work with young people. Involvement in fatherhood and reducing violence against women benefits the child, the woman, the man himself and society as a whole. The study points out how beneficial it is, including in a cost-benefit relationship, to implement policies that consider ways of breaking this cultural paradigm that we have of machismo, both in relation to violence against women and in the issue of paternity.
Read the executive summary of the research “Scaling Gender Violence in Brazil: A study on perceptions and experiences of violence among women” here and the executive summary of the report “Status of Fatherhood in the World: Time to Act” here .
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