Violence Amid a Pandemic

For my final post in this series, I decided to shift gears a bit. Instead of viewing one more film and determining its credibility in how its women are treated, I figured it would be insightful to shed some light on current events. The Coronavirus pandemic has caused drastic change for everyone around the world. For some, that means working from home, for others it means they’re now responsible for helping their child log in to online school, and for women in Latin America, it means increased violence. It was predicted near the beginning of the pandemic that household violence could see a sharp increase, and that prediction rings true. With more families cooped up in their house, domestic violence is more common than it once was. I hypothesize it’s due to higher levels of stress and uncertainty, and in extreme cases, it could be easy to get away with it because people aren’t leaving the house as frequently. 

In Colombia, gender-based violence surged during lockdown. Crime rates have fallen, but violence against women has risen by 8.6%. According to a video from Aljazeera (published June 28), at least 315 women have been killed in Colombia since the beginning of 2020. At least 110 of these murders have been classified as femicides. It somehow got worse, though. Via another article from Aljazeera, Colombia’s Femicide Observatory reported an even higher surge in femicides after the five-month lockdown. An average of three women per day were killed throughout the month of September, and a total of 86 femicides were recorded for the month. As of October 20th, researchers at Colombia’s Femicide Observatory have registered 445 cases of femicide. 

Calls to Colombia’s national women’s hotline increased by a whopping 130% within the first eighteen days of quarantine. In Argentina, the emergency line for abuse victims saw a 67% rise in calls in April 2020 versus April 2019. In Chile, calls to the domestic abuse helplines increased by 70% in the first week of quarantine. In El Salvador, reports have increased by 70% since the pandemic. Mexico saw a rise of 65% in femicides between March and April. In Venezuela, there was a 65% increase in femicides in April 2020 compared to April 2019. In Honduras, the number of reported domestic violence cases increased by 4.1% per week. In Guatemala, more than 200 women were killed within the first eight months of 2020. 

This is unacceptable.

Before the Coronavirus, Latin American countries had some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. The pandemic heightened those figures. Gender-based violence is a very real problem that plagues so many countries, and the last thing abusers need is an excuse to abuse more frequently. Women and girls were forced to take on so many new and different roles due to the pandemic, which I presume caused higher tensions in domestic life. Meghan Lopez, the International Rescue Committee’s Regional Director of Latin America, said it best, stating “In the wake of COVID-19, women and adolescent girls, many of whom were already experiencing forms of violence are now taking on double and triple responsibilities all in confined spaces 24 hours of the day, some completely stuck with their perpetrators and in increasingly vulnerable situations, without any respite. This, coupled with services closed due to quarantine and lockdown – 95% of local and government response services are closed in El Salvador, for example – puts women and girls at high risk of serious harm or death.”

I cannot believe I live in a world where half the population must fear for their life because of their gender. I feel for my sisters in Latin America. I wish I could help. I feel this weight hanging over me because I know that realistically, all I can do is educate myself and my peers. I wish I could do more. 

I want to thank whoever is reading for taking some time out of their day to read my thoughts, and I hope you got something out of this series of posts. As always, treat people with kindness.