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On August 5, the Patrícia Galvão Institute released the Violence Against Women Dossier, the result of the project "For contextualized, critical and in-depth journalistic coverage of violence against women and the application of the Maria da Penha Law", supported by the Elas Fund and the Avon Institute through the Speak Without Fear Fund.
 
The result of extensive research that involved mapping the coverage of violence against women in the media, systematizing data, surveying specialized sources and researching government agencies and private institutes, the Dossier is a pioneering and fundamental initiative to broaden and deepen the debate on violence against women and the application of the Maria da Penha Law in the media. 
 
As well as improving coverage of the issue in traditional media and on social networks, the project also aims to sensitize communication professionals to the reality of the problem.
 
Reliable sources and accurate, accessible information
 
In the Dossier, available online, press professionals and digital activists will find diverse, accurate, reliable and up-to-date multimedia content in the form of data, facts and research, as well as indications of qualified sources from various fields of knowledge who work on the issue of violence against women. The information will be constantly updated, and chapters will also be added on other dimensions of violence based on gender inequalities.
 
Djamila Ribeiro, researcher and columnist for Carta Capital, highlights the unprecedented nature and relevance of the project: "The dossier is very important because it provides useful information for journalists in general and for us feminists who work with blogs and social media. Now we have reliable material to pass on to the public. And the most interesting thing is that the dossier covers the diversity of women, it's a survey that doesn't talk about women in general - after all, who are these women in general? We need to talk about women in their particularities, about black women, lesbians, working with the issue of intersectionalities".
 
The research showed that, despite the growing presence of the issue in the news, the coverage is full of stereotypes and focuses on individual cases, without contextualizing the problem or discussing its cultural roots: "We realized that there are several bottlenecks, some of which we won't be able to solve in the short term, but there are also several gaps in which it's possible to work on the issue, and that's where the Dossier comes in," says Marisa Sanematsu, communications director at the Patrícia Galvão Institute.
 
"Muitas vezes os jornalistas dizem que não têm informações aprofundadas para abordar a violência contra as mulheres. O dossiê vem para acabar com essa desculpa. Ele fornece subsídios não só para que os jornalistas possam fazer matérias e desenvolver pautas para visibilizar o assunto mas também combater a lógica da opress&atil