“Violence negatively affects women’s general well-being and prevents women from fully participating in society. It impacts their families, their community, and the country at large. It has tremendous costs, from greater strains on health care to legal expenses and losses in productivity.”

–  (UN Woman, 2020)

INTRODUCTION

Gendered violence is a significant public health issue both in Canada and globally, affecting individuals of female gender in particular. Many women and girls live in circumstances of fear as a result of the deep-rooted dynamics of discrimination and power imbalances between genders. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue of gender-based violence in many communities, with individuals finding themselves confined to tighter living spaces than before the pandemic.

In this episode, the PHI team discusses the public health burden of gendered violence, possible strategies of prevention at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, the impact of COVID-19 on this health phenomenon, and potential policy solutions that might mitigate the risk of violence and elevate the relative social standing of women and girls.

Table of Contents

1. The public health burden of gendered violence
2. Primary, secondary, and teriary violence
3. Impact of COVID-19 on gendered violence
4. Policy solutions and other approaches

The public health burden of gendered violence

It would be helpful here to define key concepts pertaining to abusive behaviour. Gender Based Violence (GBV) describes harmful acts directed at individuals or groups based on gender identity or expression. Violence Against Women (VAW) may be considered a subset of GBV and describes abusive acts directed at those who belong to the female sex and/or identify as female. Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), also known as domestic violence, refers to any pattern of behaviour that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. IPV is one of the most common forms of violence women experience globally.

Gendered violence is a concerning phenomenon in Canada and around the world. It is estimated that one in three women worldwide experience physical and sexual violence, with over 730 million females experiencing some form of sexual or physical violence at least once in their life (UN Women, 2020). In Canada, one-third of women report being subjected to unwanted sexual behavior while in a public place (Statistics Canada, 2019). In addition, 6000 Canadian women and children sleep in shelters on any given night because of abusive home conditions.

Not all Canadians are equally vulnerable to gendered violence against women. Particularly susceptible are disabled individuals, the Indigenous population, individuals of low socioeconomic status, the LGBT community, newcomers to the country, and those who were abused as children.

Primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions

Ideally, gendered violence is best addressed at the level of primary intervention, which emphasizes prevention and is concerned with mitigating the risk factors associated with violence while enhancing protective factors conducive to a high degree of mental and physical safety for women and girls.

For instance, programs designed to combat GBV might benefit from targeting vulnerable demographic groups such as underprivileged communities. Considering that gendered violence is disproportionately perpetrated by males, bystander training, anger management curricula, and other forms of education directed towards men and boys are another possible route of primary intervention with potentially impactful outcomes.

Secondary intervention strategies, on the other hand, focus more on addressing immediate injury or harm resulting from violence through screening and provision of resources for physiological and/or mental recovery, such as counselling services and emergency shelters. Finally, tertiary intervention strategies focus on addressing the long-term impacts of gendered violence through treatment, therapy, and rehabilitation.

Impact of COVID-19 on gendered violence

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has coincided with an increase  in domestic-violence-related calls to helplines and police services. This suggests the possibility that the pandemic has exacerbated risk factors for violence while diminishing protective factors.

Increased violence during COVID-19 can be traced to several possible explanations. First, there has been a significant loss in employment opportunities and income generation for some women. This has coincided with additional workplace hazards and a decreased agency over the ability of women to assert their rights.

Second, physical distancing policies have forced many families to live closer together in proximity, while separating them from sources of informal support such as friends and co-workers. Quarantine procedures can exacerbate stress and other mental health issues among intimate partners, raising the risk of domestic violence significantly. In addition, restrictions in movement have often meant that victims are often isolated in physical spaces that render them particularly susceptible to abuse.

Finally, the re-prioritization of resources in light of COVID-19 has often led to crucial gendered violence programs and services being deemed “non-essential”. The decreased availability of many of these interventions, in addition to difficulties in transitioning services to remote environments, has left many individuals with limited options to escape the abuse they are experiencing.

Policy solutions and other approaches

Beyond primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions, there is a need to address fundamental causes pertaining to gendered violence and its occurence in our society. Specifically, the deep-rooted dynamics of power and influence that tend to place women and girls at a systemic social disadvantage must be examined for their role in perpetuating abusive behavior.

If raising the social status of women and girls is to be a key element in our efforts to eradicate gendered violence, several considerations are in order. First, women make up a disproportionate portion of minimum wage earners in the labor market. Raising this minimum wage, which has already become a central policy initiative in many jurisdictions in Canada and around the world, would contribute significantly to an improvement in socioeconomic conditions among the most vulnerable women.

Second, women tend to be burdened with the duties of child care to a much larger extent than men. For mothers of low socioeconomic status who experience abusive relationships, this is particularly troublesome because unaffordable child care outside the home can oftentimes “trap” them in a violent domestic setting that places both mother and child at an unacceptable level of risk. Child care subsidies for the most vulnerable populations can allow women to pursue meaningful vocations. This ensures stability for both women and their children without added financial hardship.

Finally, there is a need to ensure that resources and services targeting gendered violence are relevant and widely accessible. Strategies for preventing and addressing gendered violence should be informed by empirical evidence and best practices, accommodate multiple referral pathways between community-based services, and be communicated in a variety of languages and media formats.

Written by: Shenbei Fan, BMSc, MPH (c)