Times of wars and crisis have historically seen women becoming major victims of male domination. Crimes like rape, sexual assault, and psychological and physical torture become quite common during such tough periods.
Currently, the world is facing the toughest pandemic of the 21st century, namely the coronavirus. The coronavirus has seen many countries all over the globe going through lock down—a situation where people are restricted with minimum or no movement outside their homes. Even in the 21st century, times of crisis seem to have quite the same impact on women in the form of domestic violence.
Lockdwn, as a result of the coronavirus crisis, has resulted in a spike in domestic violence cases in the United Kingdom, Spain, Bangladesh, France, India, etc. The loss of employment and change in the normal lifestyle has given rise to psychopaths inside homes with very little chance for the victims to escape.
WHO’s Regional Director of Europe, Hans Kluge has revealed a rise of 60% in the domestic abuse complaints throughout Europe during the lockdown. The UN Agency For Sexual And Reproductive Health predicts that there would be 31 million more cases of domestic violence if lockdown is imposed for another six months.
In our own country, India, the National Commission of Women has reported that they have received 315 complaints via Whatsapp in the month of April. A total of 800 complaints have been received via the many helpline numbers launched by the National Commission For Women in the month of April. Even after not receiving a single complaint via post, this is the highest number since August, 2019 according to the National Commission for Women.
According to the National Family Heath Service report, 1/3rd of the women population in India suffer from domestic violence. According to the same NFHS Survey, 52% of women and 42% of men believe abuse by husbands is their right. This leads to the conclusion of how majority of the women in India, specially in rural areas, do not complain about domestic violence or are not aware that they can complain.
The National Commission of Women has launched a new Whatsapp number to register complaints of domestic abuse: 7217735272.