Measuring the shadow pandemic: Violence against women during COVID-19
Generated by UN Women based on Rapid Gender Assessment Surveys on the impacts of COVID-19 on violence against women (VAW RGAs), with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Emerging data from a new UN Women study confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a shadow pandemic of violence against women
Violence against women during COVID-19 is linked to other negative outcomes
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Indicator
Violence against women during COVID-19 |
Women's safety at home or in public during COVID-19 |
Women's perception of VAW during COVID-19 |
Women's mental / emotional stress and food insecurity during COVID-19 |
COUNTRY REPORTS
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Call to Action
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- to ensure that women’s voices, needs and rights are reflected in pandemic responses, recovery, planning and decision-making.
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- to address violence against women and girls in COVID-19 recovery and response plans through holistic and multi-sectoral measures that are fully integrated within national and local policies.
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- Efforts implemented since the onset of the pandemic to strengthen services must be maintained as a priority of recovery plans, and all women and girls must be aware of and able to access quality available services.
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- that address gender norms, root causes and risk factors, especially for those that have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Prevention initiatives can include messaging to influence social norms through media, dedicated curricula in both formal and informal education systems, and economic and livelihoods support to women and households.
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- This includes resuming national prevalence survey data collection on VAW and strengthening administrative data systems. Ensure that data capture intersectionality and marginalized groups. To this end, further investments in gender data are paramount. If regular prevalence surveys cannot be conducted, the VAW RGAs have proven to be an innovative solution.
About the Study
UN Women conducted Rapid Gender Assessments specifically focused on VAW and COVID-19 (VAW RGAs). The study is producing the first set of reliable, cross-country, and nationally representative data on topics related to VAW, women’s safety at home and in the public sphere during COVID-19 and access to resources, services, among others.
The VAW RGAs were implemented in 13 countries (from April - September 2021): Albania, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand and Ukraine.
The study was supported by national statistical offices (NSOs) or national women’s machineries and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The survey research partner was Ipsos. A technical advisory group guided the process and regular consultations were done with external partners to inform the study.
Highlights