Resource: Frontline Workers Explain What’s It Like To Bleed In Protective Gear During Covid

Rituparna Chatterjee, Frontline Workers Explain What’s It Like To Bleed In Protective Gear During Covid, Youth Ki Awaaz, 15 May 2020, https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2020/05/frontline-workers-explain-whats-it-like-to-bleed-in-protective-gear-during-covid/amp/.

Excerpt: ‘The lack of public facilities as menstruators step out to perform essential tasks during this lockdown, or migrant workers take the journey home on foot with girls and children in tow, and callous lack of thought that goes into assigning work for women who are afraid to ask for a period leave fearing rebuke, makes it obvious that women’s reproductive health isn’t priority in the struggle to keep them in the workforce.‘

Resource: Locked-down schoolgirls: no basic needs, period

Jigyasa Mishra, Locked-down schoolgirls: no basic needs, period, People’s Archive of Rural India, 12 May 2020, https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/locked-down-schoolgirls-no-basic-needs-period/.

Excerpt: ‘Phoolwatiya (name changed) expects her menstrual cycle to begin from tomorrow. But this time – unlike in earlier months – she won’t be getting free sanitary napkins from her school. “We normally get pads there when our periods begin. But now I will use any piece of cloth I can.”… Phoolwatiya is not alone. Over 10 million girls like her in Uttar Pradesh are eligible for free sanitary pads – which would have been distributed though their schools.‘

Resource: Surviving a ‘Shadow’ Pandemic: Domestic Abuse in the Time of COVID-19

Girija Godbole, Surviving a ‘Shadow’ Pandemic: Domestic Abuse in the Time of COVID-19,  Talking Policy, Centre for Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 29 April 2020, http://www.cps.iitb.ac.in/surviving-a-shadow-pandemic-domestic-abuse-in-the-time-of-covid-19/.

Excerpt: ‘According to Rajgopalan (personal communication, 7 April, 2020), creating good, safe shelters and improving helpline services is crucial. At a more individual level, Kirdat (personal communication, 8 April, 2020) of Purush Uvach, appeals to men to break the ‘traditional’ image and to get physically involved in household chores, which may also help them to channel the anxiety of future uncertainties and fight the temptation to resort to violence at the slightest provocation. In Sarubai’s opinion (personal communication, 16 April, 2020), assured free supply of food grains or reasonable monetary assistance by the State to needy families who have lost their source of income will ease the burden and help in reducing the violence.    

Well-funded and robust support services for domestic violence survivors, including psychological care and economic resources, are crucial. However, interventions cannot be limited only to dealing with abuse. As has been discussed, while lockdown may escalate already existing incidents of violence, it may also result in new incidents. The causes of gender-based and sexual violence must be disrupted by fighting the framework of patriarchal values.‘

Resource: The ‘Other’ Pandemic: Session on Violence against Women in the times of Corona

Surbhi Karwa, The ‘Other’ Pandemic: Session on Violence against Women in the times of Corona, The Leaflet, 22 April 2020, https://theleaflet.in/the-other-pandemic-session-on-violence-against-women-in-the-times-of-corona/.

This resource is a summary of a webinar on domestic violence. Here is an overview: ‘Thus, today, millions of women are finding themselves virtually in ‘prison’ with their abusers battling what can literally be described as ‘custodial violence’.

It is in this background that the webinar on ‘Women & the Pandemic: The Challenge of Domestic Violence’ was organized by Law and Society Committee (NLSIU, Banglore) in collaboration with Centre for Women and the Law (NLSIU, Banglore) and The Leaflet.

Sangeeta Rege (Coordinator, CEHAT), Ms Anuradha Kapoor (Director, Swayam), Ms Adrija Bose, (Associate Editor, News 18), Prof. Jhuma Sen (Centre for Human Rights Studies, Jindal Global Law School), Ms T.K. Rajalakshmi (Senior Deputy Editor, Frontline) Padma Deosthali (Public Health Expert, CEHAT, Bihar) and Ms Indira Jaising (Senior Advocate and Founder, Lawyers Collective) were the panellist in the session. Prof. Sarasu Esther Thomas (Professor of Law, NLUSIU) moderated the session.‘

Resource: COVID-19, Domestic Abuse and Violence: Where Do Indian Women Stand?

‘COVID-19, Domestic Abuse and Violence: Where do Indian Women Stand?‘, EPW Engage, 17 April 2020, https://www.epw.in/engage/article/covid-19-domestic-abuse-and-violence-where-do.

Excerpt: ‘While there are laws in place to protect against domestic abuse, it is not easy for the judicial system to break into the stranglehold of the patriarchal family. Neither is there societal will, as the following articles will show. In this reading list, we examine the laws and the redressal mechanisms available to women who are subjected to domestic violence.‘

Resource: South Asian Domestic Violence Survivors in Silicon Valley Grapple With COVID-19 Lockdown

Anahita Mukerji, South Asian Domestic Violence Survivors in Silicon Valley Grapple With COVID-19 Lockdown, The Wire, 3 April 2020, https://thewire.in/women/south-asian-domestic-violence-survivors-in-silicon-valley-grapple-with-covid-19-lockdown.

Excerpt: ‘While the situation is horrific for all domestic violence victims, accessing help can be particularly challenging for immigrants, such as the large South Asian population in Silicon Valley, where many women have no support system, are far from their families, and are not accustomed to calling the police to complain of their husbands, or accessing legal systems. Many South Asians in Silicon Valley are recent migrants who have yet to acclimatise themselves to their new environment.

Over the last couple of weeks, ever since counties in and around Silicon Valley called for a stringent shelter-in-place, asking people not to leave their homes except for essentials, nonprofits supporting South Asian domestic violence survivors are working round the clock, devising novel methods of supporting women through the shutdown.‘

Resource: India’s Domestic Abuse Survivors are in Lockdown with their Monsters, But Helplines Are Not Ringing

Adrija Bose, India’s Domestic Abuse Survivors are in Lockdown with their Monsters, But Helplines Are Not Ringing, News18.com, 4 April 2020, https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/indias-domestic-abuse-survivors-are-in-lockdown-with-their-monsters-but-the-helplines-are-not-ringing-2563955.html.

Excerpt: ‘“It’s a ticking bomb in already abusive homes,” said Swarna Rajagopalan, political scientist and the founder and director of Prajnya Trust, a Chennai-based nonprofit organisation working for gender equality. She pointed out that when the tension outside goes up, violence on women and children increases at home. “There’s already so much sexism and gaslighting in Indian homes. It doesn’t take too much for these homes to turn violent,” she added. The research activist said that the anxiety of economic uncertainty that the Coronavirus pandemic has brought with itself only adds to the burden of that violence. Despite this constant fear and certainty of increasing violence, women are unable to seek help. With abusive families at home and limited services available, the silence of the already silent victims is only getting louder.‘

Resource: Reflections of an Aid Worker in the Time of COVID-19

Kailee Jordan, Reflections of an Aid Worker in the Time of COVID-19, Talking Gender, Gender at Work, 2 April 2020, https://genderatwork.org/news/reflections-of-an-aid-worker-in-the-time-of-covid-19/.

Excerpt: ‘Gendered impacts exist in any crisis, and COVID-19 will be no different. In fact, we can already see the effects it is having on women’s rights. One of the first, and most deadly impacts is the rise of domestic violence. Here in Canada, stories from front-line responders point to a significant increase in domestic abuse calls. Women’s rights organizations from across Europe are already warning that lockdowns are leading to increases in violence, and are calling for more resources to help address these challenges. Chinese women’s rights organizations have noted a steep rise in domestic violence rates since they started their lockdown. In many crises, increased stress and financial pressures exacerbate existing tensions and lead to increased inter-partner violence. Such is also the case with COVID-19. For many women, the added element of lockdowns means that they have nowhere to escape. At a time when violence is increasing, services are struggling to keep up, as many shelters, hotlines, and support roles have been closed or decreased due to COVID-19.‘

Resource: Pandemics and Violence against Women and Children

Amber Peterman, Alina Potts, Megan O’Donnell, Kelly Thompson, Niyati Shah, Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, and Nicoele van Gelder, Pandemics and Violence Against Women and Children, Working Paper 528, Centre for Global Development, April 2020. (www.cgdev.org)

Abstract
Times of economic uncertainty, civil unrest, and disaster are linked to a myriad of risk factors for increased violence against women and children (VAW/C). Pandemics are no exception. In fact, the regional or global nature and associated fear and uncertainty associated with pandemics provide an enabling environment that may exacerbate or spark diverse forms of violence. Understanding mechanisms underlying these dynamics are important for crafting policy and program responses to mitigate adverse effects. Based on existing published and grey literature, we document nine main (direct and indirect) pathways linking pandemics and VAW/C, through effects of (on): (1)
economic insecurity and poverty-related stress, (2) quarantines and social isolation, (3) disaster and conflict-related unrest and instability, (4) exposure to exploitative relationships due to changing demographics, (5) reduced health service availability and access to first responders, (6) inability of women to temporarily escape abusive partners, (7) virus-specific sources of violence, (8) exposure to violence and coercion in response efforts, and (9) violence perpetrated against health care workers. We also suggest additional pathways with limited or anecdotal evidence likely to effect smaller subgroups. Based on these mechanisms, we suggest eight policy and program responses for action by governments, civil society, international and community-based organizations. Finally, as research linking pandemics directly to diverse forms of VAW/C is scarce, we lay out a research agenda comprising three main streams, to better (1) understand the magnitude of the problem, (2) elucidate mechanisms and linkages with other social and economic factors and (3) inform intervention and response options. We hope this paper can be used by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to
help inform further evidence generation and policy action while situating VAW/C within the broader need for intersectional gender- and feminist-informed pandemic response.