An Extreme Surge of Gender-based violence during Pandemic

It is noticed that there is a relationship between gender-based violence and any disaster or pandemic. Children, girls and woman are most vulnerable during this time.  COVID 19 has an interlinked consequence of the increase in worldwide gender-based violence. Women and girls are living with a high risk of gender-based violence because people are forcing to stay home during this crucial time of the pandemic. 

The concern of gender-based violence is increasing gradually worldwide as the established protocols are neglecting the issues during this outbreak.

In the past, we have failed to establish the proper mechanism to identify and stop sexual and gender-based violence which is a consequence of increasing vulnerability toward violence. The unpleasant truth is that women are facing a high level of domestic and gender-based violence. 35% of women across the world already had endured some form of sexual and gender-based violence in their lifetime. Examples showed that in a devastating emergency, this number skyrocketed more than 70%.

According to Reuters, violence against women in India almost doubled in the first week of the lockdown, with homicide rates rising since Turkey instructed everyone to stay at home. At least 90,000 allegations of gender-based violence reported in the first week of the lockdown in South Africa. The rate of online help requests to the Australian government has risen to 75%. In one week, domestic violence in France has risen about 32%.On the other hand, the number of women victims of torture on government hotlines in the UK has increased by 75%.

According to a survey of MJF (A non-government development organization in Bangladesh) in April 2020, 747 women physically abused by their husbands, 2,008 mentally abused, and 65 sexually abused and 1,308 financially abused. Also, 04 women raped, 01 killed and 20 sexually harassed, 1072 women and 424 children reported that they never tortured previously. Majority of women has experienced domestic violence by their husband.

Peterman, a researcher at the University of North Carolina in the United States, and his co-authors, in a study titled "Pandemics and Violence against Women and Children", showed that violence against women increases during epidemics, natural disasters, and economic downturns. For example, in a study of sexual harassment revealed that sexual violence against women, including rape, increased during the outbreak of Ebola.

In this context, some key issues identified causes of violence against women in various epidemics, including corona. First, the pressures of economic hardship and poverty, the social distance caused by being in quarantine, the traditional patriarchal mentality, the oppressive behavior as a result of changes in the surrounding socio-economic conditions, the lack of opportunity to report.

Snyder and his co-authors, in their study of the 2016 global recession in the United States, found that the rate unemployed man abused his partner was several times higher than that of men at work. Also, Belotra, a study of 31 countries published in 2019, showed that the rate of violence against women increased by 2.5% due to male unemployment in the global recession. Violence against men by women decreased by 2.75% at that time.

Various studies have shown that during times of emergency, including epidemics, fear, panic, stress, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia increase and harm family relationships. Also at this time, people lose their freedom as a result of being at a social distance, lack of recreation; which also harms men and women relationships. For example, Lau's 2006 study in Hong Kong showed that most of the perpetrators of SARS swine flu were in quarantine at home, admitting that they abused women because of the stress caused by social distance.

Another reason for violence against women is the negative attitude of the patriarchal society. According to criminological feminist theories in explaining the causes of violence against women, in a patriarchal society, men always want to show power and authority over women. During the lockdown, there is less opportunity for men to engage in occupations and other activities outside the home, increasing the dominance of women in the home. Besides, many women victims of violence in the existing social system cannot seek legal recourse even if they want to. Many women are forced to endure these tortures thinking of their family and children.

One of the reasons for the increase in violence against women is the culture of not reporting incidents of violence to the police. The rule of law has not been strongly enforced, the police have in many cases been unable to take up cases of violence against women, stigmatized abused women, cases of violence against women have been delayed, and those responsible have not been punished. So women do not report incidents of their abuse in normal times. And because of the social distance at the time of this epidemic, the lack of people with adequate cooperation, the seeming extra trouble, the panic, they may not be able to reveal their events anymore.

Women and girls rights need to be ensured from the very beginning of any epidemic and disaster. Protective service should be classified as essential during any disaster for women and girls. The protection of women and children should be included with all other campaigns. Law implementing authority need to be more vigilant so that women can report incidents of abuse against them even when they are in-home quarantine. In addition to covering the Corona epidemic, the media should also take seriously the news of violence against women and launch a special campaign to prevent violence against women. And amid this social crisis, we should all show a positive attitude towards women and children. Above all, when women are seen as human beings, not women, torture will come down to a great extent.