Covid-19 pandemic a ‘gift’ to violent abusers

Between the end of March and June of last year, the Women’s Aid’s national helpline saw a 43% increase in calls in comparison to 2019.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a “gift” to perpetrators of domestic violence, according to Women’s Aid CEO Sarah Benson.

“The primary tactics of an abuser in the context of domestic violence is to isolate somebody from their family, from their friends, from their support networks,” Ms Benson said.

Calls to Women’s Aid’s national helpline are often distressing, but the level of “desperation, isolation and hopelessness” expressed by women in the last year has been dramatically heightened, Ms Benson said.

Between the end of March and June of last year, the helpline saw a 43% increase in calls in comparison to 2019.

The increase “hasn’t dropped off”, Ms Benson said, adding women have found ways to reach out despite being stuck at home with abusers constantly, calling from their car, the shed and even bathrooms with the shower running in the background.

Safe Ireland CEO Mary McDermott said domestic violence and gender-based violence was made a priority at the start of the pandemic by governments across the world as they knew domestic violence was going to rise in conditions of lockdown.

“That prediction was correct.” 

Provisional figures provided by An Garda Síochána show the force received 43,000 calls to respond to domestic abuse incidents last year, a 16% increase on 2019.

While a gender breakdown of garda figures was not available at this time, research from the National Crime Council and the Economic and Social Research Institute suggests women are over twice as likely as men to have experienced severe physical abuse and seven times more likely to have experienced sexual abuse.

Between September and December of last year, Safe Ireland’s 39 frontline-service member organisations received an average of 191 calls a day, slightly up from the 184 calls a day average between March and August.

More than 8,000 women and 2,200 children received support from a domestic violence service between September and December 2020.

Almost 2,500 women and 500 children contacted a domestic violence service for the first time in the space of those four months.

“The numbers are extraordinary,” Ms McDermott said, but she believes some of the increase can be attributed to women feeling more able to come forward for help, something she believes was aided by the launch of ‘Operation Faoiseamh’ last April.

Womens Aid CEO Sarah Benson said the primary tactics of an abuser in the context of domestic violence is to isolate somebody from their family, from their friends, from their support networks. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

The garda operation, launched with the goal of providing “enhanced proactive support to victims of domestic abuse” during the pandemic, has not just been “materially effective” but “symbolically effective,” she said. 

Provisional figures reveal almost 24,000 contacts and attempted contacts were made with victims of domestic abuse last year following the launch of the operation.

“There was a loud and clear message sent out that domestic violence is no longer tolerated and we can act. That was really powerful and it protected a lot of people,” she said.

Another positive is that coercive control has recently become a criminal offence in Ireland and there were three convictions for this crime recorded in 2020.

“For many years, we in domestic violence services have understood that the bruises are only the last stop,” Ms McDermott said.

They are like the iceberg on the surface, but underneath is the precursors of systematic control and debasement, humiliation and surveillance.

Image-based sexual abuse has also been recognised recently in the law, and it is now a criminal offence to distribute intimate images without consent. 

All such forms of gender-based violence occur in the context of persistent gender inequality, Women’s Aid CEO Sarah Benson noted, and until the wider issue is addressed, women will continue to suffer sex-based violence. 

“This is not something that comes down to individuals, it comes down to societies and communities recognising that an unequal society creates the context in which all forms of gender-based violence occur and manifest themselves,” she said.

“We have to educate children, from the earliest ages, about equality, respect, mutuality, consent. 

"We also need to encourage people to start speaking about domestic violence," Ms McDermot said. 

“There is no shame or secrecy, or silence, or stigma attached to it, this happens to people. 

"We have to be able to name it properly, speak about it, don’t gossip about it, but speak about it if you see it, identify patterns and help people, where and when they can be helped.” 

In one sense, this pandemic has been a blessing, Ms McDermott said, as for the first time “the nation understands what it means to be in lockdown, to be trapped”.