When Staying Home Is Not Safer: Domestic Violence Increases Amid Lockdowns, COVID-19 Restrictions

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare many existing social inequalities, such as housing insecurity, economic inequality, and a lack of access to health care. A factor that is often overlooked, however, is an increase in the rate of violence against women and girls during emergency situations. Non-profit organizations and shelters worldwide have reported elevated rates of domestic violence, with calls for help increasing by as much as 60% in some countries. France, Singapore, Cyprus, Argentina, and some regions in Canada have reported an increase in emergency calls by 20-30% since the commencement of lockdowns in mid-March, and more cases have also been reported in Spain, Germany, and the United States.

In addition, front-line services report that women are describing more serious, complex forms of abuse. In the United Kingdom, where reported cases of domestic violence have risen by 60%, Counting Dead Women – a non-profit created by Karen Ingala Smith to track the number of women murdered by men in the United Kingdom – found that over 26 women and girls have been murdered by a intimate partner or family member between March and June, with 16 women killed during the first three weeks of the lockdown alone.

Rates of domestic violence tend to increase when families spend more time together, such as on holidays or vacations, and violence is often exacerbated by stress or unrest. Many experts raised the alarm previous to mandatory lockdowns and encouraged governments to take intimate partner and family violence into account when crafting pandemic response plans. Despite these warnings, many countries overlooked the threat of domestic violence, leaving governments scrambling to allocate funding and resources.

Government responses around the world have varied in scope and effectiveness. In France, Spain, Italy, and Brussels, empty hotel rooms were utilized to house displaced women and children. Two provinces in Canada declared domestic violence shelters to be an essential service and ensured they remained open during the pandemic, and the federal government allocated 50 million dollars to women’s shelters and sexual assault centres. Italian courts ruled that perpetrators would be made to leave the family home instead of victims, the Eastern Cape in South Africa is funding community-level services for survivors, and in China the hashtag #AntiDomesticViolenceDuringEpidemic is circulating, allowing those suffering from family violence to access resources and support.

The United Kingdom’s response, however, was widely criticized by service providers – while the government pledged 37 million to frontline services, they were slow in rolling out the program, and limited amounts of funding have actually reached organizations. In many of the countries facing increased cases of domestic violence, frontline services for survivors were already underfunded and undervalued due to decades of neoliberal policies and budget cuts. Services that were already struggling faced greater pressure due to the pandemic and the increased need that accompanied it. Advocates and experts expect the demand to continue to grow as the pandemic comes to an end, as women who were not able to access resources previously may come forward en masse. They say governments must be prepared to fund shelters and services appropriately in the coming months.

Domestic violence is violence committed by an individual in the victim’s domestic circle, such as parents or current and former intimate partners. Even prior to the pandemic, domestic violence was the most widespread form of violence worldwide. Globally, 18% – or 243 million – women and girls aged 15 to 49 have been subjected to physical or sexual abuse at the hands of an intimate partner in the last year alone. Further, UN Women found that nearly one third of all women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, and in 2018 The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that 58% of all female homicides reported in the year prior were committed by a domestic partner or family member. Despite the widespread nature of violence, less than 40% of women seek help, with even fewer pursuing formal legal remedies. This is due to a variety of factors, including lack of access to, or knowledge of, available services, social or cultural stigma and shame, concerns about losing custody of children, economic dependence on abusers, and fear of retribution.

The pandemic has exacerbated many of these concerns, with women reporting that they are often unsure if shelters and services are still open. Shelters have also been forced to decrease their capacity in order to allow for appropriate cleaning and social distancing measures, resulting in gaps in access to help. Further, women have faced disproportionate economic harm due to job loss as they are over-represented in part time, contract, or otherwise unstable employment. Due to lockdown, many people are now forced to isolate with their abusers, which may decrease their access to social supports or resources due to increased surveillance. Some abusers may also increase their control during this time and may seek to control access to cleaning supplies and accurate information.

International organizations such as UN Women, Amnesty International, and the World Health Organization (WHO) all released reports detailing increases in domestic and intimate partner violence due to COVID-19, and suggestions that governments could implement to increase service delivery and alleviate harm. Recommendations include guaranteeing widespread internet access, which would allow victims to find and connect with services; ensuring that intimate partner and family violence concerns are built into the framework of disaster response plans; and collecting data and statistics on gender-based violence so services can be sufficiently funded to meet demand.

Services for domestic violence and sexual assault should not only be prioritized in times of crisis – these organizations are always vital to the safety and dignity of those relying on them and should be funded accordingly. Permanently funded services with sufficient capacity, outreach, and education would create a solid foundation for resource delivery that would help keep organizations afloat in times of crisis. Efforts to reduce stigma surrounding domestic violence, increasing the number of shelter beds, especially in rural towns and reservations, and government-funded childcare and welfare for low-income women would reduce the barriers to leaving abusive relationships.

Every person should have the right to be safe in their homes and communities, and it is vital that we do not forget survivors of family violence after the pandemic is ended. As Agata Szypulska and Moana Genevey remind us, life was already unsafe before the COVID-19 outbreak for victims of domestic violence, and it will remain unsafe when the rest of us return to normal.

Kailey Ouellette

Related

Leave a Reply