The coronavirus pandemic has made women feel more vulnerable to abuse, sexual harassment and violence, which is in turn harming their mental health and emotional well-being.

The study found that COVID-19 has eroded women’s feelings of safety, whether inside or outside of their households, with significant negative impacts on their mental and emotional well-being.
Socioeconomic stressors such as financial pressure, employment, food insecurity and family relations stood out as having a significant impact not only on experiences of safety (or violence) but also on
women’s well-being overall.

When women were asked why they fet unsafe at home, many cited the occurrence or threat of physical violence as women specificaly reported that they were hurt by another one of the reasons (21% across the pooled sample). Some family member (21%) or that other women in the househod
were victimized (19%). In Ukraine, rates were higher, with 5% of women reporting that they felt unsafe because they because there was physical violence in their homes and 38%
were being physically abused by others in the househod. Meanwhile, 34% of Albanian women said they felt unsafe said it was because other women in the household were being hurt.

Call To Action

Results of the study yied important insights into how the to prevent vioence against women, it is necessary for policies to integrate comprehensive measures to provide and effective response, which requires putting women at COVID19 pandemic has exacerbated violence, revealing across age groups, employment status, and those living with as significant gaps persist to mount a more comprehensive social protection and economic support to survivors of
vioence, as done by Colombia to mitigate the impacts of address violence against women. However, more is needed
even higher risk of violence, as a loss of income for women in sensitive measures adopted by countries to specificaly or without children. In the aftermath of the crisis, vioence COVID19.20 n addition, UN Women and UNDP’s global the centre of policy change and addressing the structural
have placed the most vulnerable groups of women at an unemployment, financial strains and insecurity persist against women and girls wi continue to escalate, as long as unpaid care work and violence against women show a
These risks are evident when looking at differences in socioeconomic inequalities worsened by the pandemic database on pandemicrelated policies adopted by
consequences on women’s menta health. The stark connections between violence, food insecurity and experiences, feelings or perceptions of VAW among women
abusive situations makes it even harder for them to escape.
significant response with 853 out of 1,605 (53%) gender countries to address women’s economic and social security,
and root causes of violence against women.