Advertisement
Opinion | How Covid-19 lockdowns and isolation have enabled a shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls
- In all corners of the world, helplines for violence against women have seen an increase in reports. But the pandemic has also highlighted the potential of online technologies to channel support
- The challenge now is to expand global efforts and make a difference in more lives
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1

Violence against women is a global crisis. In all our neighbourhoods, there are women and girls living in danger. Around the world, conflict, climate-related natural disasters, food insecurity and human rights violations are exacerbating violence against women.
More than 70 per cent of women have experienced gender-based violence in a crisis setting. And in countries, both rich and poor, gender prejudice has fuelled acts of violence towards women and girls.
Covid-19 has presented new challenges and complexities regarding how this violence manifests, is prevented, and how survivors are helped to be safe. The recent study “Covid-19 and violence against women: The evidence behind the talk” analysed online search behaviour on topics related to violence against women and girls in eight countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.
It showed that this violence rose even further during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with online misogyny. With increased online violence, online support also rose and help-seeking searches increased – by 47 per cent in Nepal and 10 per cent in the Philippines.
The pandemic highlighted the potential of online technologies to channel support. There is a great need to invest in targeted online engagement of service providers and government services to better reach survivors online, particularly when face-to-face interaction is limited.
Violence against women often goes unreported, silenced by stigma, shame, fear of the perpetrators and fear of a justice system that does not work for women.
Advertisement