Intimate Partner Violence in the Time of COVID-19

Submission to The Social Lens: A Social Work Action Blog by Community of Practice 3 as part of SOWK 550

Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behaviors (Walters, 2020). While both men and women experience intimate partner violence, women make up the majority of IPV victims, accounting for almost 80% (Burczycka & Conroy, 2018). According to Statistics Canada (2018), there were over 99,000 victims of IPV aged 15-89 in Canada in 2018. This over-representation highlights the larger injustice of our patriarchal society. Women of colour, and women of low socioeconomic status are more likely to be impacted by IPV. They also have a harder time leaving an unsafe situation due to circumstances.

Recently, the prevalence of IPV has surged in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Bradbury-Jones & Isham, 2020). “Stay at home” has become a common mantra used by governments and health organizations alike during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, home is not always a safe place to live; for women experiencing IPV, home is often the space where physical, psychological and sexual abuse occurs (Bradbury-Jones & Isham, 2020). This is because “home can be a place where dynamics of power can be distorted and subverted by those who abuse, often without scrutiny from anyone “outside” the couple, or the family unit” (Bradbury-Jones & Isham, 2020, p. 1). Therefore, the “stay at home” order has major implications for women already living with an abusive partner. Restrictions on movement also isolate women from their support networks and shut off avenues of escape (Anurudran, 2020; Bradbury-Jones & Isham, 2020). As a result, lockdown measures enable people who abuse greater freedom to act without scrutiny or consequence (Bradbury-Jones & Isham, 2020).

In Canada, a woman is killed by her intimate partner approximately every 6 days (Gender Based Violence in Canada: Learn the Facts, 2020). In British Columbia specifically, the Battered Women’s crisis line reported a 400% increase in calls during the first few months of the pandemic. In addition, 40% of callers were contacting them for the first time (Bains, 2020). This can be seen as a result of more people staying home and more women being exposed to IPV.

COVID-19 has exacerbated the pain and suffering of all peoples; however, these implications have disproportionately impacted those facing structured inequalities at the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, occupation, gender and abilities (Bowleg, 2020). It is for this reason that as social workers we must use an intersectional lens.

Intersectionality is the study of how different power structures interact in the lives of minorities (Crenshaw, 1991). It was a term coined by Kimberele Crenshaw in 1989 as a response to the limited forms of analysis that the mainstream white feminist politics of the time offered (Ouspenski, 2014). Crenshaw (1995) recognized that the intersectional experience was “greater than the sum of racism and sexism.” The experiences of oppression as felt by a woman of colour could not be compared to that of black man or a white woman, but must uniquely be examined at the intersection of both race and gender discrimination (Crenshaw, 1989).

Intersectionality is especially important when examining Intimate Partner Violence during a global pandemic. COVID-19 has shone a light on the inequities of our communities as marginalized communities are more likely to contract COVID-19 and to be hospitalized from the virus (Subedi et al., 2020). Some of the factors that contribute to this increased risk is discrimination, occupation, income and wealth gaps, and overcrowded living arrangements (CDC, 2020). Poor women of colour are also more likely to be impacted by Intimate Partner Violence (Robertson, 2010). The intersection of COVID-19 and IPV is putting marginalized women at more risk.

It’s important as social workers to approach anti-violence work through an anti-oppressive (AOP) lens, especially in today’s climate. AOP requires us to examine power dynamics and how the large system protects the unearned privilege and power of some groups while generating difficult and unfair conditions for many others (Baines, 2017). These injustices have been exacerbated by COVID-19, especially in relationship to IPV. Poor women of colour already face so many barriers when leaving an unsafe situation. COVID-19 has increased isolation and brought on even more economic hardships, on top of the fear of the virus itself. With more time at home, alcohol and drug consumption on the rise and fewer social connections, women are in more danger than ever. And that is exactly what the numbers are showing.

As part of this blog post we wanted to provide some resources we hope you find helpful to support women who are experiencing IPV during this pandemic, and resources to support you as social workers in regards to self-care. In these unprecedented times, social workers are facing additional stressors, professionally and personally. Therefore, we are including some practical tools and guidelines as well as some resources about the topics we discussed in this post if you are interested in reading more.

Resources to support women experiencing IPV during COVID-19

• Battered women’s support services
• 3 Considerations for Supporting Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence
• Applying for a Protection Order in Provincial Court During COVID-19
• Guidelines for parenting during COVID-19 health crisis
• 12 Tips for Smartphone Safety & Privacy

Self-care resources for social workers 

• Keys to Well-Being | Greater Good
• Mindshift app: Breathing exercises, CBT techniques
• Violence resources to support health care workers during COVID-19
• The Working Mind: Self-care and resilience guide

For further reading and learning

• Feminist resources on the pandemic
• Podcast to learn more about COVID-19 and intersectionality: Episode 126 – is it ignorance or is it malice? It’s malice. | Sandy & Nora Talk Politics
• Peak resilience therapy blog

• Battered Women’s Support Services releases new PSA on November 25 to mark the first day of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence

References

• Anurudran, A., Yared, L., Comrie, C., Harrison, K., & Burke, T. (2020). Domestic violence amid COVID‐19. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 150(2), 255–256. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.13247
• Baines, D. (Ed.). (2017). Doing anti-oppressive practice: Social justice social work. Fernwood Pub.
• Bains, M. (2020). Battered Women Support Services asks for more volunteers amid COVID-19 pandemic. CBC News.
• Bowleg, L. (2020). We’re Not All in This Together: On COVID-19, Intersectionality, and Structural Inequality.
• American Journal of Public Health, 110(7), 917. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2020.305766
• Bradbury‐Jones, C., & Isham, L. (2020). The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID‐19 on domestic violence. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(13-14), 2047–2049. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15296
• Centre for Disease Control. (July 2020). Health Equity Considerations & Racial & Ethnic Minority Groups.
• Crenshaw, K., Gotanda, N., Peller, G., & Thomas, K. (1995). Critical race theory. The Key Writings that formed the Movement. New York.
• Crenshaw, K. (1989) Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics, The University of Chicago Legal Forum, 140: 139–167.
• Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241. doi:10.2307/1229039
• Gender Based Violence in Canada: Learn the Facts. (2020). Canadian Women’s Foundation. https:// canadianwomen.org/the-facts/gender-based-violence/.
• Ouspenski, A. (2014, November). Sex work: Transitioning, retiring, and exiting.
• Robertson, F. (2010). Evidence to the Status of Women’s Report on Violence Against Aboriginal Women, Coordinator for the Women’s Shelter and Non-Violence File. Quebec Native Women Inc.
• Subedi, R., Greenberg, L., & Turcotte, M. (2020). COVID-19 mortality rates in Canada’s Ethno- cultural neighbourhoods, 2020. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
• Walters, J. (2020). COVID‐19 Shelter‐at‐Home Orders: Impacts and Policy Responses in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence. World Medical & Health Policy. https://doi.org/10.1002/ wmh3.366

Images

1. A Hand Signal for Help
2. Intersectionality and GBV
3. COVID-19: The Rise in Domestic Violence
4. Empty cup

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