COMMISSIONS: Guerreiras

GUERREIRAS 

For Marie Claire Mexico 

These women fought two fights:  

One against crime and the other against machismo. 

Until 1983 Brazilian women could not serve in the police force. Now, many of them work in one of the most ambitious policing programs in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. 

Of the 45,000 officers that make up the Military Police, only 3,668 are women, of which 723 of them integrated into the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) that patrol the most violent communities once ruled by drug traffickers for decades in Rio de Janeiro.  

The women of the UPP are called, "guerreiras," or women warriors, by their male colleagues and residents of the favelas. Despite prejudices, they still fight for their place.