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Abstract
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With over 256 million infections and 5.1 million deaths worldwide as of November 19, 2021, COVID-19 has severely impacted people's physical, mental, and sexual health. Contrary to expectations, though, suicide rates were either stable or lower than expected (Tandon, 2021a). The gendered nature of the pandemic was visible everywhere. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weak underbelly of the global economy and the unpreparedness of public healthcare systems (Tandon, 2021b).
COVID-19 was particularly harsh on women in South Asia, which also witnessed high infections and death rates. In Bangladesh, the government adopted the death penalty to curb rape (Sifat, 2020). In India, violence against women and girls (VAWG), particularly domestic violence (DV) increased, as stay-at-home locked women down with their sexual oppressors. Loss of jobs added to the vulnerabilities of women, particularly in homes affected by alcoholism and substance abuse (Vora et al., 2020).
VAWG has spurred psychological problems for women, such as depression, anxiety and perceived stress (Indu et al., 2021). This trend is largely in line with the globally-documented negative impact of VAWG on health, including a US lifetime cost of rape estimated at USD 122,461 per victim (Peterson et al., 2017) and widespread mental health disorders.
Despite existing knowledge that natural disasters, including pandemics, were gendered, India failed to protect its women from violence on multiple planes, including individual, governmental and institutional levels.
In patriarchal India, female safety is associated with the security offered by the four walls. However, homes became unsafe for women during the lockdown, as work-from-home males vented their frustration and stress on their partners and children.
Though individuals failed to create safe havens at home, India also has a surfeit of dedicated government institutions for disaster management and women, such as the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the National Council for Women (NCW) and the Ministry for Women and Children. Though overall VAWG crime numbers fell during the pandemic...
Language: en |