Cross-sectional study compares the perception and attitudes about violence against women of physicians and nurses working in the primary health care clinics in Ribeirão Preto, SP. A total of 170 physicians and 51 nurses were interviewed in the District Health Clinics. Physicians feel more comfortable than nurses to talk about the sex life of patients (P = 0.048) and to investigate the use of drugs (0.001). Compared to the nurses greater number of physicians believed that the aggression to the woman by the husband should be treated as a medical problem (P = 0.000). Both believe that external factors, as alcohol or drug abuse, unemployment, and psychological problems of the husband and not of the victim, can cause violent acts. Most interviewees understand that gender violence exceeds the issues of individuality and privacy and has become a public health problem, by the dimension present in the social relationships.