Call Frida: Using Technology to Combat Gender Violence in Brazil

15 June 2023

Redactie openresearch.amsterdam

Talk by Ana Rosa Campos & Emile Ribeiro (the Creative Bureaucracy Festival 2023)

Brazil is the 5th country in the world in the ranking of violence against women according to the UN. Minas Gerais was the state with the highest number of feminicide records in the entire country last year.

The pandemic of Covid 19 and the situation of women isolated living with their aggressors was a scenario that demanded the creation of the project. Frida is a virtual assistant who provides immediate police assistance to the victim. With the popularization of smartphones and a significant presence of internet access, it was realized that the only available help channels in cases of domestic violence tend to be digital.

More than 3500 calls have been made since the implementation of “Frida”. Among the people assisted were also women with physical disabilities who were able to record audio, as well as children who witnessed violence against their mother and asked for help by message preventing something worse from happening in their homes.