... Factors that increase women’s vulnerability to domestic violence Based on the ecological model proposed by the WHO to summarize the main individual, relational, community, and social dimensions that act synergistically in the occurrence of violence 37, the health, economic, and social crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessary measures to confront it can greatly increase the risk of violence against women. For many women, the necessary emergency measures in the fight against COVID-19 increase their load of housework and care for children, the elderly, and ill family members. Restrictions on movement, financial constraints, and widespread insecurity also encourage abusers, giving them additional power and control 11. The pandemic also has repercussions at the ecological model’s community level, to the extent that it decreases social cohesion and access to public services and the institutions comprising individuals’ social support networks. The search for help, protection, and alternatives are jeopardized by the suspension or reduction of activities in churches, daycare centers, schools, and social protection services, as well as by shifting priorities in health services to actions targeted to care for patients with respiratory symptoms and suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19. All these factors contribute to the persistence and aggravation of preexisting situations of violence. At the relational level, longer time in contact with the aggressor is a central factor. In addition, due to the reduction in the victim’s social contact with friends and family, the possibilities are reduced for the woman to create and/or strengthen a social support network, seek help, and escape the situation of violence. Daily around-the-clock contact, especially in low-income families living in housing with few rooms and overcrowding, reduce the possibilities for filing complaints safely, thus discouraging women from making this decision. The following individual factors can lead to aggravation of the violence: the aggressor’s increased stress due to fear of falling ill, uncertainty about the future, impossibility of social contact, the imminent threat of reduced income (especially in the underprivileged classes, where a large proportion make their living from informal labor), and the consumption of alcoholic beverages and other psychoactive substances. Overload on the woman with housework and care for the children, elderly, and sick family members can also reduce her ability to avoid conflict with the aggressor, in addition to leaving her more vulnerable to psychological violence and sexual coercion. Fear of violence also affects her children, confined to the house, another paralyzing factor that hinders the search for help. Finally, financial dependence on the husband due to the economic stagnation and the impossibility of informal work due to the quarantine also reduces the possibility of breaking away from this duress. Factors involved in violence between parents and children According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), some 1.5 billion children and adolescents worldwide are out of school due to the closing of teaching institutions to help contain COVID-19 14,38,39. In Brazil, public and private daycare centers, schools and universities are also closed. As commented above, in many regions of Brazil, the closing of commerce (except for what are considered essential services), companies etc., has stimulated remote work (telework) for most workers. The dynamics of families with young children and adolescents has thus required greater effort by parents and guardians who need to reconcile telework, housework, and care for the children ...
Language: pt
", language="pt", issn="0102-311X", doi="10.1590/0102-311X00074420", url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0102-311X00074420" }