Responding to Queensland’s ‘shadow pandemic’ during the period of COVID-19 restrictions: practitioner views on the nature of and responses to violence against women

Report by Naomi Pfitzner et al. Monash University.

June 30, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated control measures that have been implemented to slow the spread of the virus have increased women’s vulnerability to all forms of gender-based violence. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) and many countries have published ‘stay home, stay safe’ campaigns to accompany the introduction of government-imposed restrictions, research by the United Nations (UN) shows that the ‘home’ is the most dangerous place for women and children worldwide (UNODC, 2018). With a significant number of people confined to their homes in order to reduce the community spread of COVID-19, the heightened risk of violence against women and children has emerged as a global concern. Reflecting this in April 2020 Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuke, labelled violence against women the ‘shadow pandemic’ (UN Women, 2020b). Recently released data by UNFPA (2020) predict that for every three months the lockdowns continue an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence will occur worldwide.