COVID-19 Lockdown and the Increased Violence Against Women: Understanding Domestic Violence During a Pandemic

Abstract

Globally, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, reports of domestic abuse have increased. Using scientific and news reports about violence against women during COVID-19 and the changes it implicated in society, this article speculates how different factors contribute to violence against women worldwide, with some focus on Lebanon. Violence types addressed in this study will be domestic violence and intimate partner violence. To understand the link between violence against women and the multidimensional interplay between different factors operating during pandemic lockdown, Heise's ecological model is used. These factors are classified into four groups: structural and environmental, community/societal, relationship, and individual. Violence increase was due to increase in tensions in households, increased perpetrator's risk factors for violence, economic burden, and survivors' limited access to support services available prelockdown. COVID-19's response plan limited the spread of the virus, however, it weakened women's ability to respond to their violent perpetrators.