Brazilian feminist movements held protests in various states in the country against the high instances of gender violence and rape on Wednesday, or International Women's Day.

The movements are also against the prejudice against black and indigenous women.

The same day, a report by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, revealed that 4.4 million Brazilian women were attacked in 2016, and that 40 percent of all women suffered some sort of assault last year, especially young and black women.

Among the demands of the protesters was the rejection of the provisional reform proposed by the government of President Michel Temer.

The reform would set the minimum retirement age at 65, with 49 years of fiscal contributions needed to receive full benefits. Men under 50 and women under 45 would be affected by this law.

According to feminist groups, women would be most severely hit by the changes. They state that this reform fails to account for gender inequality in the workforce, such as women being paid less and working longer hours than men, or that having children prevents them from contributing for as many years as men.

Carmen Foro, vice-president of the Unified Workers' Central movement (CUT), said at a march in Sao Paulo that "today is no day of celebration."

"Our mission is huge, it is not worth spending your life barely being a women, we must be fighters and committed to the changes we need. We still live in a misogynistic and patriarchal society," Foro said.

The CUT, along with unions and women's rights movements, protested outside the headquarters of the National Social Security Institute in Sao Paulo.

Brazil's women's rights movements are aligning themselves with other international efforts such as Not One Less (Argtina)en, the Women's March on Washington (the U.S.) and marches against the criminalization of abortion (Poland).

Source: xinhua