Julho das Pretas is a landmark of Black resistance and fight for rights
Data reveals the impact of violence, inequality, and structural racism in the lives of Brazilian Black women
Foto: Daniel RAMALHO / AFP
Created by Black women in an organized effort to denounce historical violences against their bodies, lives, and territories, Julho das Pretas is a landmark of political advocacy in Brazil. The campaign was launched in 2013 by Odara – Instituto da Mulher Negra and became stronger nationwide as a strategy for visibility and claims for justice, reparation, and rights.
The month chosen is connected to the National Day of Tereza de Benguela and Black Women and the International Day of the Black Latin-American and Caribbean Woman, both celebrated on July 25th. Far beyond the celebration, Julho das Pretas adds strength to the construction of a collective political agenda led by Black women and denounces structural racism in several levels of social life.
Violence and lethality: pain has a color
Lethal violence against Black women continues at an alarming rate. According to the 2025 Atlas of Violence, in 2023, 68.2% of homicides of women in Brazil were perpetrated against Black women – 2,662 deaths occurred in that year alone. 30,980 Black women were murdered between 2013 and 2023, representing 67.1% of the total of lethal violence against women.
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The 2024 Brazilian Public Security Annual Report confirms this pattern: out of 1,492 femicides recorded, 63.6% referred to Black victims.
Sexual violence also disproportionately affects Black girls. In 2024, Brazil had the highest count of rapes ever recorded: 87,545 cases, with 56,000 cases referring to rapes of vulnerable individuals. Over half (55.6%) of the victims were Black girls. Underreporting due to color/race indicates that the numbers could be even higher.
In the face of this reality, Conectas Direitos Humans and other organizations brought complaints before the UN and the IACHR, warning of the severity of forced pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 14. Over 13,000 cases were reported in 2024 alone.
The UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) also demonstrated concern with the dismantling of reproductive health policies and defended specific protocols to secure access to legal abortions and the protection of girls who are victims of sexual violence.
Police lethality: victims and victims’ families
Police violence directly affects the Black population, particularly mothers and relatives of victims, who become voices that denounce crimes and seek justice. Movements such as the Mães de Maio and Mães de Acari have become symbols of this resistance.
The Inter-American Court of human Rights (I/A Court H.R.) will judge Brazil for the summary executions of 2006, known as the Crimes of May, in São Paulo. The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) considers that, 19 years later, the perpetrators of the crimes are yet to be held accountable.
Besides, in 2024, Conectas and the Mães de Maio Movement filed complaints to the UN Committee on Child Rights regarding the increase of 93% in police lethality in São Paulo between 2022 and 2024, driven by the removal of body cameras and the weakening of control mechanisms.
Cases such as the murders of Ryan da Silva Andrade Santos, age 4, and Gregory Ribeiro Vasconcelos, age 17, were mentioned as examples of impunity. The Committee recommended urgent measures to contain the deaths of children during police raids and required independent investigations, accountability for law enforcement officers, and the adoption of international protocols.
Mass incarceration
Even with the reduction of the population of women’s prisons in recent years, structural racism remains evident: 62% of incarcerated women in 2024 were Black, according to data from the Sisdepen (National Penal Information System, acronym in Brazilian Portuguese).
The study “Black Women in the Crosshairs” (free translation), by researcher Juliana Borges, shows that the “war on drugs” disproportionately affects Black women arrested for felonies with a lower offensive potential, such as association or drug trafficking, in high social vulnerability conditions. They are doubly penalized for their gender and race, in addition to suffering with court decisions permeated with moralism and stigmas.
The price of racism in Black women’s income
Inequality is also unmistakable in the job market. According to Dieese, Black women earn 53.5% less than White men and 60.6% less than White women. Furthermore, only 14.7% of Black women have a complete college education, compared to 29% of White women.
The UNDP estimates that Black women receive a mere 10.7% of the labor income in the country. This economic exclusion affects their health, longevity, and professional opportunities.
After a revision in 2024 by the CEDAW Committee, the UN entity recommended that Brazil should urgently implement the National Care Policy, ensuring the active participation of Black and Indigenous women when formulating and executing public policies.
Black women in politics
Though the number of candidacies for office grew, the political underrepresentation of Black women is still a serious issue. In the 2024 elections, out of 80,000 Black women candidates, only 10.9% of them were elected.
Political gender and race-based violence is another barrier. A recent example was the attack against Minister Marina Silva during a Senate hearing, in May 2025, when she was interrupted and offended by congressmen while discussing environmental topics.
Even with the criminalization of gender-based political violence, effective since 2021, aggressors are rarely held accountable, and political parties continue to fail to protect women working in institutional policy.
Environmental racism
Climate crises have shed light on the disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations. Black women, who are heads of households in risk areas, are the population that is the most affected by floods, landslides, and infrastructure problems.
The census by the IBGE (Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, acronym in Brazilian Portuguese) shows the inequality in the access to basic sanitation: while 91.8% of White people have access to sanitation, this figure drops to 75% among Black people, 68.9% among people of mixed African descent (classified as “pardo” in the Brazilian census), and only 29.9% among Indigenous people. The absence of public policies for this reality deepens the effects of environmental racism, making Black women the first to suffer the impacts of the climate emergency – and the last to be heard.
