The Women’s Empowerment Group is a University of São Paulo Law School’s group focused on research
and practice on themes related to gender violence, especially domestic violence and the Maria da Penha
Law (MPL). In this context, research with an anthropological approach in legal education arises as an opportunity to (re)think public policies and structural failures in the instruments for law implementation.
The investigation seeks to tell the narratives of those who deal with the MPL in practice, considering that
the dynamics of the Women´s Police Stations (WPSs) runs through the need of an open space to the voices of people who deal with it daily. We carried out visits and interviews to observe the routines of the employees and, among the collected material, we identified three focuses of analysis: (i) the vision of the University within the context of WPS, (ii) internal systems and dynamics, (iii) understandings about being a victim
and gender relations. The work sought to revisit the disciplinary boundaries that mark anthropology and
law in Universities, using key-concepts related to gender studies, institutional violence, human rights and legal anthropology.