While the COVID-19 pandemic is having – and will undoubtedly continue to have – significant public health consequences across the globe, for many women and girls, the consequences of this pandemic stretch far beyond the risk of contracting the disease, because the measures taken to halt the deaths from COVID-19 may be placing some women at even greater risk of harm. Sadly, evidence from Brazil, China, Germany, Greece, France, Japan and India shows that domestic violence has increased dramatically since February 2020 and this trend is becoming apparent in many more countries, including the UK. In the current climate, many victims/survivors are afraid to report their abuse, as illustrated by the case of one British Asian woman I have been supporting over the last few weeks, who said of her partner: “Nothing will be done, he will kill me and blame it on coronavirus. The government and the police do not care about immigrants like me.”
Read my full article on the Feminist Review website