Marta Meire da Silva Pinho Santos (Ginga Community Women’s Movement)

One of the problems faced in the suburbs is the exploitation of women as “apontadoras” (1) of the “Jogo do Bicho” (2). The project aims to broaden the horizons of those women pointing to alternatives to this scenario.

Women and girls are exploited, subjected to wear short clothes as a “uniform” and search for customers to place bets from raffles of the “Jogo do Bicho”. Many of these girls are enticed by those clients in exchange for guaranteeing the bets.
Citizenship workshops and courses are sought to give them autonomy to break this victimization cycle to which girls and women are subjected. The idea is to untie all the “knots” that erroneously ties them to slave-like situations.

In addition to attacking the problem directly, the project aims to give visibility to these social issues that are camouflaged. The actions can draw the attention of the competent authorities, and the whole of society, to the existence of this profession “dedicated” to women due to the fact that no expertise is needed, but only biological differences and young and uncovered bodies which are used as bargaining chips.

(1) “Apontadoras” are the women employed by the owners of the “Jogo do Bicho” to find betters by wondering around the streets.

(2) “Jogo do Bicho” is a game of illegal betting on numbers that represent animals. It was invented in 1892 by Baron João Batista Viana Drummond.

The mission of Women’s Movement of Ginga Suburb is to train and empower women, contributing to the awakening of their protagonist role and a sense of otherness necessary for the construction of the collective.

The group of about 50 women who are part of the movement holds lectures, seminars, dialogues, workshops and courses in 22 communities, which form the railway suburb of Salvador. The topics covered are human rights, gender violence, health of the afro-descendant population, women in positions of power, rescue of their roots, trafficking of women and cooperativism and entrepreneurship, among others.