Worldwide violence against women legislation: an equity approach

OBJECTIVES: To describe the recommendations and interventions addressing violence against women (VAW) in vulnerable women (disabled, pregnant, ethnic minority, immigrant and older women) in key documents and laws enacted in different countries. METHODS: Content analysis of key documents for the development of VAW policies and laws: The United Nations Handbook for Legislation on Violence Against Women Advance Version, the Model of Laws and Policies on Intrafamiliar Violence Against Women of the Pan-American Health Organization and Recommendation No. R(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers of the European Council. The content of the 62 VAW laws was also analyzed. RESULTS: Key documents demonstrate the importance of eliminating any obstacle facing disabled, pregnant, immigrant, ethnic minority or older women when accessing VAW services. Only 12 laws mention one or more of these groups of vulnerable women. Pregnant, disabled and ethnic minority women are the groups most often mentioned. In these laws, references to punitive measures, action plans and specific strategies to guarantee access to VAW resources are the most common interventions. CONCLUSION: Decisive interventions addressing the specific needs of disabled, pregnant, immigrant, ethnic minority and older women are needed in order to achieve a broader equity approach in VAW legislation.

Seeding a Profession: The Intersection of the State, International Interests, and the Early Development of Brazilian Nursing

State and international entities can have profound effects on the development of a country’s nursing profession. Through a global health governance lens, this paper explores the development of nursing in Brazil during the early twentieth century, and its intersections with national and international interests. Accordingly, we will show how state policies established an environment that fostered the institutionalization of nursing as a profession in Brazil and supported it as a means to increase the presence of females in nation building processes. The State focused on recruiting elite women for nursing, in part due to the Rockefeller Foundation’s involvement in the country. Nurses who worked for Rockefeller came from well-educated classes within US society with specific ideas about who should be a nurse and the roles of nurses in a healthcare system. These women served as the primary vehicles for interacting with Brazilian health authorities responsible for health system development. Their early efforts did not, however, ensure a system capable of producing nursing human resources at a rate that, in present day Brazil, could meet the health needs of the country. Findings from this paper offer new avenues for historians to explore the early roots of professional nursing through a global health governance lens, improve the understanding of the intersection between international politics and professionalization, and highlight how these factors may impact nursing human resources production in the long term.