Locked down with the abuser in the same house and spending the entire time with almost no options left to escape, the lives of many women have taken a turn for the worse. Whereas on one hand, a housewife might become a victim of domestic violence when her partner finds it perfectly reasonable to take all his frustrations of the lockdown and workplace-related problems out on her, on the other hand, a working woman from a well to do family might also be a victim of domestic violence if she is unable to fulfill the growing expectations of family members while managing her office work. She easily gets touted for being ‘inefficient’ and that leads to her being battered a number of times.
source : SidneyTrinidad https://sidneytrinidadblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/abuse-blog-8.jpg
Not just the housewives or the women from the lower-income group as it is always believed but multiple accounts of a huge fraction of working women, women from the middle class as well as women from rich families have come to the forefront after the lockdown has been imposed. The abused housewife who bears the brunt of her partner’s anger probably sobs in some dark corner of the house remembering the time helplessly when her husband used to be at work for the entire day and return home late at night exhausted. Unlike now, mental torture and physical violence were a less frequent affair. However, the lockdown period has led to her being abused almost daily and she is clueless who to approach for help when the entire nation has come to a halt after coming into the clutches of the deadly virus. On the other hand, the working woman ends up having to take care of both her office duties while working from home, and at the same time the entire family and all household chores during this lockdown period. As the lockdown has also kept household helpers locked in their homes, working women’s woes have been aggravated. The demands of both in-laws and partners on women have increased manifold during this period. Failing to understand the concept of working from home, the working woman’s in-laws curse her every now and then for not being able to fulfill their demands. Partners, while not participating in the household chores, easily blame women for being inefficient. This intense blame leads to frequent clashes between the two partners which end up in the woman getting severely abused many times. She is left with no option to escape but to suffer silently.
These are just two types of instances out of hundreds that have surfaced now, exposing the misogynistic and patriarchal character of our society which has oppressed women for ages and has not traded down even in a harsh situation like this. Though violence against women and cases of domestic violence in India is neither new nor less in number, the recent lockdown has made women more vulnerable to abuse, which is the reason why there has been a sharp increase in the cases of domestic abuse and violence by intimate partners. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has already announced an increase in complaints during the lockdown period. The report of the NCW states that the number of complaints of domestic violence which was at 298 in the month of March increased to 315 in the month of April and is already 200, the month of May has not ended yet. The NCW has also added that they apprehend several more cases where the victims have not reached them for fear of the constant presence of the abusers in the home. The abusers who otherwise had some fear towards the intervention of relatives, other members of society or activists, and legal intervention, have grown indifferent and are not afraid of inflicting violence on their partners. On the other hand, with no hope of help from the outside world, many victims have turned frail and do not resist attacks anymore, accepting it as their fate.
In the fight against the deadly Covid-19, many unprecedented measures which were never thought of before were taken in order to save human lives. As the government made extraordinary adjustments for the sake of protecting the lives of millions, these warlike emergency measures are disproportionately affecting specific sections of our society adversely. One such section of the population that is sadly though not surprisingly, absent from this discussion of the negative consequences – whether unintended or foreseen but inevitable – of the anti-pandemic measures has been women. Though the violence against women is deeply rooted in the crevices of society, the inability of the authorities in charge of policymaking to foresee the impact of various undertaken actions on women is yet another instance of gender-blind policy-making institutions. The proactive response of the government to curb the spread of the virus considers any adverse effect on women as mere collateral damage. The question that arises here is, when the lives of the people of the entire nation are at stake, whether the condition of a few sections of the society can be ignored. The Government and the judiciary of India need to stand for equality and justice for everyone. Any policy or measure, no matter how urgent it may be, has to consider the welfare of each section of the society and if in any unavoidable condition some policies have to be imposed, the law should be strengthened to protect the affected sections.
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The first step towards flattening the rising curve of the cases of domestic violence in India is for the administration and law enforcement agencies to acknowledge the severity of the problem. They have to believe women and sympathize with them. In this critical time, women need solid assurance that they will be heard, and that help would be sent if they fear for their own lives or their children’s lives. Reaching women in distress and saving them from abuse in extraordinary situations like these needs to be classified as an “essential service.” Helplines, shelters, and legal assistance for battered women which are already inadequate in India should be allowed to operate within the framework of separate guidelines for such situations. This will not only prove beneficial for saving women from abuse but also act as a helping hand for the government in tackling this issue when other authorities focus on various other operations.
Not just in India, cases of domestic and intimate partner violence have also been noted in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Australia among other countries. A rise in domestic violence has impacted women’s mental health and has increased the risk to women’s lives as well. Research from the King’s College London indicates that since the beginning of the global lockdown, 57% of women have reported depression as compared to 40% of men.
Whether the existing policies and laws are adequate for the enormity of the challenge is debatable now. As the spread of the virus and the lockdown imposed to contain the same has given rise to greater abuse of some sections of the society in particular, it is of great importance to ponder over existing policies and bring required changes so that such situations can be avoided in the future. If saving lives in the pandemic is the overarching objective, saving lives from the negative impacts of the rules enacted to contain the same should also be our aim. It is understandable that in an extraordinary situation like this it is difficult to address every issue but it is imperative to identify and discuss the same. While the government machinery should identify the disproportionate gender impacts of the lockdown, society should also strive to bring about much-needed change. Respect of women, equal distribution of household chores between partners, and understanding the mental stress on women in any family is something that needs to be achieved at home itself. This is not something that should be learned by everyone for just the present lockdown period alone, but should also be inculcated in the long run for the healthy functioning of the family. Gender equality in the workplace as well as at home is essential to achieve in order to lower the cases of domestic violence than any other government policy. This issue needs to be addressed from its origin.
With the lockdown, as the curve of the spread of the virus gets flattened, it is also very important to flatten the curve of domestic abuse as well. Only then shall it be considered as a victory over the virus in the true sense.
