Domestic violence against women: Heleieth Saffioti reference center for women

Abstract

Domestic violence, a social problem that affects thousands of women daily worldwide – women of different ages, social classes, races/ethnicity, education background, religious or sexual orientation – is a severe manifestation of gender violence. In this article, the issue of domestic violence against women was addressed having as the field of analysis the “Heleieth Saffioti” Reference Center for Women, located in Araraquara, São Paulo. We assume that the contact of women with the Reference Center for Women may have contributed for strengthening gender citizenship, for having generated knowledge tools that subvert biological and deterministic rules on the construction of differences and inequalities that underpin male domination.