This work uses the sociology of social movements to describe the contemporary Brazilian women s movement and its relation to democracy in the democratic period begun in the 1980s. The objective of the research is to point out elements that explain the dynamics of the Brazilian women s movement, the characteristics of its organization along the process constructing the political subject and its collective political action in the struggle for the conquest of rights. In presenting three strategies of political influence of the women s movement – namely public policies for women, domestic work and facing violence against women –, the study establishes the direct relation of the action of this social movement with the conquest and application of rights such as specific public policies to increase women s citizenship, labor legislation for domestic workers, and a specialized law to end domestic violence against women.