Feminism is a social movement that, according to historians, emerged after the French Revolution and was strengthened in England, during the 19th century, and then in the United States, at the beginning of the 20th century. This movement fights for equal conditions between men and women, in the sense that both have the same rights and the same opportunities.

It is important to point out that feminism is not the opposite of male chauvinism , since male chauvinism is a social construction that promotes and justifies acts of aggression and oppression against women. Feminism, on the other hand, is the social movement that fights against the manifestations of machismo in society. Thus, the ultimate goal of feminism is to build a society that offers equal conditions between the two genders.

Currently, in Brazil, feminism continues to discuss issues that affect women in general. Firstly, there is a devaluation of the worker compared to men, mainly because, according to surveys carried out by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), women earn on average 30% less than men to perform the same function.

In addition, there is the issue of harassment and violence against women, since, according to studies conducted by the Federal Government's Secretariat for Policies for Women, a woman is raped in Brazil every 10 minutes and a woman every 90 minutes. is murdered in Brazil. Women are susceptible to this type of gender-based violence in different locations, whether on the street or in their families.

The great effort of the feminist movement in the Brazilian case is to fight against this violence and for the government to create public policies that combat this and that promote the well-being of women in society. One of the major milestones in this regard was Law decree Number 11,340, on August 7, 2006, also known as the Maria da Penha Law.

Despite all the achievements of women in recent decades, we still live in a patriarchal and sexist society, in which violence against women and the idea that women are inferior to men is still tolerated.

Women must unite in the struggle to protect their rights, already achieved and those yet to be achieved, and in the search for equality, in fact, between genders.