The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Like many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on family violence.

We know that family violence is driven by expressions of gender inequality: the unequal distribution of power, resources and opportunities between men and women.1 Gender inequality is the outcome of and is exacerbated by rigid gender stereotypes such as men’s control of decision making.

Other factors including financial pressure, alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness and social and economic exclusion can also increase the risk or severity of family violence, but are not the underlying drivers. 1, 2

There is strong evidence that the gendered drivers and factors that exacerbate gendered violence are heightened during and following emergencies and crises, resulting in increases in violence, particularly against women.


Notes

1 Parkinson D 2017, ‘Investigating the increase in domestic violence post-disaster: An Australian case-study’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, March 2017. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260517696876.

2 State of Victoria 2016, Royal Commission into Family Violence: Summary and recommendations, Parl Paper No 132 (2014–16). http://rcfv.archive.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/MediaLibraries/RCFamilyV…

3 Pfitzner N, Fitz-Gibbon K and True J 2020, Responding to the ‘shadow pandemic’: practitioner views on the nature of and responses to violence against women in Victoria, Australia during the COVID-19 restrictions. Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.

4 Boxall H and Morgan A 2021, ‘Who is most at risk of physical and sexual partner violence and coercive control during the COVID-19 pandemic?’ Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 618, February 2021.

5 Boxall H and Morgan A 2020, ‘Social isolation, time spent at home, financial stress and domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic’, Australian Institute of Criminology, Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 609, October 2020.

6 Pfitzner N et al. 2020, When home becomes the workplace: family violence, practitioner wellbeing and remote service delivery during COVID‑19 restrictions, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Melbourne, 20 October 2020.

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