“Everywhere, COVID-19 has led to a shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls.”
The United Nations has recently released a report showing that the COVID-19 pandemic has marked an increase in gender-based violence. Termed the ‘shadow pandemic’, violence against women is garnering global concern.
“Everywhere, COVID-19 has led to a shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his video message during the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.
“We must build on this work to strengthen multilateral partnerships and increase support and funding for civil society so that every woman and girl can live free from violence.”
How The Shadow Pandemic Thrives Amidst COVID-19
UN Women surveyed 13 countries: Bangladesh, Albania, Colombia, Cameroon, Jordan, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Kyrgyzstan, Paraguay, Nigeria, Thailand, and Ukraine. The study concluded that almost 1 in 2 women reported that either they or a woman they know has suffered from abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This survey also revealed that one in 4 women do not feel safe at home. 21% of these women attributed this lack of safety to physical abuse.
Gender-based violence isn’t news. Everybody knows that this issue has thrived for generations. But the COVID-19 pandemic has provided more ‘opportunities’ for this shadow pandemic of gender-based violence to take place.
This shadow pandemic has particularly affected women in more vulnerable situations. For example, students and the unemployed. Domestic violence has also increased following rising tensions and frequent conflicts within households.
Perhaps more astonishingly, essential workers faced a greater risk of being exposed to violence during the pandemic.
Kathryn Travers, a UN specialist in ending gender-based violence, explains this phenomenon: “Now there are less people who are around to be active bystanders [to violence or harassment].”
In essence, too many women have lost their protection — not just in their own homes, but even in public.
“Culturally, when women report experiences of sexual harassment, the first questions are…What was she wearing? Was she alone?”
Taking Measures to Curb Gender-Based Violence
The shadow pandemic has triggered worldwide concern. Calls for governmental and societal reforms have been made.
In response to COVID-19, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged all governments to make the protection of women and the prevention of gender-based violence a significant factor in their countries’ respective response plans during the pandemic.
“Together, we can and must prevent violence everywhere, from war zones to people’s homes, as we work to beat COVID-19,” he said.
The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women has also recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. In line with this event, the UN Trust Fund promoted their crowdsourcing challenge, #Give25forUNTF25.
High-level officials and dignitaries gathered in New York during the official UN commemoration event. Among the attendees were UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous, and UN Women Regional Goodwill Ambassador Cindy Bishop.
UN Women has also launched the annual international campaign, ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence’. This campaign started on the 25th of November and will run until 10 December. Many member states across the globe have responded to this campaign’s global theme, ‘Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now!‘
“Culturally, when women report experiences of sexual harassment, the first questions are: where was she? At what time? What was she wearing? Was she alone?” UN specialist Kathryn Travers identified. “All of this puts a responsibility on the individual woman for her safety, when really, these are broader social issues that need to change.”
The UN’s identification of this shadow pandemic is a mere first step in the right direction. Governments and citizens everywhere should rise to the occasion. COVID-19 has indeed exposed the vulnerable to many dangers — and this shadow pandemic is proof of how preventable some of these dangers can be.
