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"Our work is like that of a little ant who forms a group, and then that group of ants goes out and forms new groups, and those others will form even more groups, so that maybe in 10 or 20 years we will have a more equal society."







Cláudia Vasconcelos is a 20-year-old peer educator with Grupo Curumim, a feminist organization based in the city of Recife, in northeastern Brazil. Born and raised in Recife, Cláudia first began working with Curumim at the age of 13, when she participated in the organization's program for local adolescents designed to build self-esteem, provide vital information on sexual and reproductive health, and offer opportunities for young people to participate in the formation of local health policies. Today, Cláudia works with young people in the Cunhatã project part-time, and is a full-time secondary school student. The International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) has supported Grupo Curumim since 1994, serving as the primary supporter of the Cunhatã project since its inception in 2001.

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>>Also available in Spanish, French, and Portuguese

IWHC: What is your first memory as a young girl or young woman of a situation where you were personally aware of or effected by gender inequalities or a lack of rights for girls and women?

Cláudia Vasconcelos: I never had a happy moment in my childhood—all of my memories are of violence. I grew up in an environment where my mother was beaten by my father. more>>

IWHC: What are some of biggest challenges facing women and young people in Brazil today?

CV: There are many problems. First, access to health care—the young people we work with, and people our age in general, talk a lot about that. They won't go to the local clinic because a neighbor works there and will tell their mothers. Or they won't ask for condoms because the woman who works at the clinic will ask "How old are you? Why do you want condoms?" We hear that a lot. more>>


IWHC: Why is the work of Curumim, and of IWHC, so important?

CV: IWHC is important because it enables Curumim to do the work that makes Curumim important. And Curumim is important because it gets young people thinking about critical issues from a very early age, by exposing young people to many different ways of thinking and encouraging them to find the way that works best for them. In that way, Curumim is kind of like a liberal mother that presents her children with all the possibilities. This is so important, because it empowers young people. more>>


IWHC: Why is it important for you to work at Curumim?

CV: For me, it's important to work at Curumim so that I can do for others what Curumim has done for me—empower young people, and teach them what Sula and Claudinha—another educator, nurse and doctor—taught me. Young people come to us knowing very little…after six months they know much more, and after one year they are already teaching others. more>>


IWHC: How will you realize the principles of sexual and reproductive health and rights in your own future?

CV: I have a lot of expectations for myself in the future, both personally and professionally. First, if I have children, I want to raise them in a way that diminishes gender differences and promotes equality, at least inside my own home. I want to study journalism, so that I can contribute to stopping censorship and restrictions on communication and information. I believe I'll never stop being a militant until the day I die. more>>

IWHC: So if you succeed in all this—if all people can enjoy their sexual and reproductive health and rights—what is the world going to look like?

CV: The world will be wonderful, because it won't have rights violations and people will be respected no matter their color, sexual orientation, or what they decide to do with their lives. It will be a society with less violence—because I believe that violence comes from inequality. All people will be educated, so that they know about their rights and can demand that those in power fulfill their commitments to good education and good health care. That is what all of us at Curumim hope for, and what I hope to see one day. more>>