Complaints of domestic work analogous to slavery increased 123% since the launch of A Mulher da Casa Abandonada, a Folha podcast about the story of Margarida Bonetti, a Brazilian accused of keeping a maid in conditions analogous to slavery for 20 years in the US.
A survey by the Public Ministry of Labor shows that the monthly average increased from 7 to 16 complaints after June 8, reinforcing that the disclosure of rescue cases can influence the fight against contemporary slavery. In the five-month period between January 1 and June 7, there were 36 complaints, 12 more than the 24 registered in the month and a half that followed the launch of the podcast.
In the state of São Paulo, complaints quadrupled, with the average rising from 0.6 to 2.66 per month. The national coordinator for the Eradication of Slave Labor and Combating Trafficking in Persons (Conaete) of the MPT, Lys Sobral Cardoso, says that there is no certainty as to the reasons for the increase, but that the matter being on the agenda certainly had an influence.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon