ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 examines the major global disaster of recent times – the Covid-19 pandemic. This chapter provides a global case study, drawing together existing research from around the world on the impact of Covid-19 on GBV. The pandemic has made the connection between disasters and gender-based violence highly visible and pushed the connection between disasters and gender-based violence more firmly onto public and policy agendas. As the chapter shows, the increase in domestic, sexual and other forms of violence against women and girls is just one of the gendered impacts of the pandemic that have fallen disproportionately on women. There have also been some unique dimensions to the devastating experiences of GBV that have accompanied the pandemic, as perpetrators have actively used the situation to control victim-survivors. Meanwhile, sources of support, whether formal or informal, have been much harder to access. The chapter assesses the social stratification of these added risks of violence, asking which women and girls are most at risk during the pandemic, and what this tells us about the intersectional nature of risk. It then analyses the rise in GBV during Covid-19 within a conceptual framework that has two parts to it. Firstly, focusing on the distinct spatial aspects of the pandemic, it explores the amplification of intimacy that produces hyper-isolation for victim-survivors. Secondly, it then considers the fit of Luft’s (2016) concept of racialised disaster patriarchy to the rise of GBV during the pandemic.
