Covid-19 and climate change aggravated domestic violence against women

Domestic violence against women and girls is public health issue. Due to Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, the situation of violence against women and girls is alarming. All those are cross cutting and pressing issues.  UN WOMEN mentioned in its report that one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly by an intimate partner. Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation.

Before Covid-19 pandemic 243 million women and girls, aged 15-49, experienced sexual and/ or physical violence by an intimate partner. Since Covid-19 pandemic, violence against women, especially domestic violence has intensified.  This is the Shadow Pandemic growing amidst the Covid-19 crisis and we need a global collective effort to stop it.

In terms of public health, domestic abuse has a range of serious physical and mental health consequences for victims, which can be long lasting. Acute and chronic physical impacts are there, strong links with suicide and self-harm. Half of all the people who report domestic abuse have children. Abused women are also more likely than non-abused women to engage in higher risk behaviors, such as smoking and substance use disorders. Furthermore, the chronic stress caused by domestic violence is linked to higher rates of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes for abused women.

Research shows that in Bangladesh, Covid-19 pandemic has increased the risk of domestic violence. There is growing evidence that domestic violence acts as an opportunistic infection that thrives in the pandemic's situations. A recent survey conducted by a human rights organization the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) revels that in 27 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh, 4,249 women, and 456 children were found to have been subjected to domestic violence merely in April 2020. Of these victims, 1,672 women and 424 children were facing violence for the first time in their lives. So, taking the gloomy status of only April into account, it is easy to estimate the total numbers of victims every year.

It is important to focus on domestic violence. Because domestic violence has a significant impact on the general health and wellbeing of individuals.  It causes physical injury, anxiety, depression, impairing social skills and increasing the likelihood that they will engage in practices harmful to their health.

In accord with different studies and research, violence against women is a violation of basic human rights, but we still witness different forms of gender-based violence worldwide. Deep-rooted societal norms, social stigma, religious fundamentalism and patriarchal culture are responsible for the prevalence of gender-based violence in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.

After natural and man-made disasters, there is a growing trend of women being subjected to violence. Violence in families escalates during any disaster, especially gender-based violence, because of the financial crisis, and unemployment. Economic crisis, financial insecurity, negative mindset of men towards women and girls, and superiority complex of men are common reasons for gender-based violence.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Global Warming of 1.5�C predicting an increase in natural and man-made disasters and the subsequent devastation in communities around the world. Gender-based violence risks becoming an even bigger problem if it is not properly tackled. Unfortunately, violence against women and girls is deep-rooted in our societies. Climate change is recognized as a serious aggravator of gender-based violence.  Around the world, climate change-induced crises have also been shown to worsen domestic violence, whether in relation to sexual and reproductive health or discrimination against indigenous communities.

Violence against women is not limited to developing countries. Research conducted into disasters, such as bushfires and droughts, in one developed country found that they have increased the risk of domestic violence in rural regions. One of the reasons for this is the social and psychological pressure arising from loss of income resulting from the growing impact of Covid-19 pandemic and climate change on the agricultural sector.

Climate action is therefore an essential component in the ongoing fight to eliminate violence against women and girls. The world also needs greater involvement of women in climate action, for example by putting an emphasis on gender mainstreaming in the policymaking process. In addition, tackling the issue of violence against women and girls is an important step towards achieving the core objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is extremely important to leave no one behind. This aligns with the need for gender equality and gender mainstreaming.

Poor women and children are more vulnerable due to Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. In Bangladesh, the disasters-affected women of coastal areas including female-headed households, divorcees, husbands disappeared, widows, women with disabilities are the ill-fated climate-migrants/ climate-displaced.  They face domestic violence more than others due to their helplessness.

So, with the policy makers, development partners, government and nongovernment organizations, civil society organizations, all the stakeholders must come forward to end domestic violence against women and girls. Media must be sensitized to cover/ publish objective stories with the latest, reliable, authentic, evidence-based data and information on it. Finally, everyone, all of us men and women must act accordingly together with integrated and holistic approaches. The purposes are to make our families, societies, and the countries free from violence and inequality against women and girls irrespective of class, race, religion, age and color.


The writer is a visual and radio
storyteller, poet, journalist, author
and activist in Bangladesh