THE SHADOW PANDEMIC: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (Atena Editora)

Abstract

According to the Maria da Penha Law, domestic violence against women consists of any action or omission based on gender that causes death, injury and physical, sexual or psychological suffering within the scope of the domestic unit, the family or any intimate relationship of affection. Under this bias, during the pandemic period, as a result of widespread orders to stay at home to curb the spread of Covid-19, women were forced to be isolated along with their potential aggressors. This way, we seek to analyze whether there was an intensification of gender violence, called Shadow Pandemic, during the pandemic. For this purpose, a literary review and documental analysis of official indexes made available by specialized institutes are used as a methodology. In this sense, according to administrative data from the police, telephone support lines for women victims of domestic violence and internet searches in several countries, violence against girls and women has intensified as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to UN Women research, 1 in 2 women know a female person who was a victim of domestic violence during the pandemic. It is therefore concluded that Covid-19 intensified a pre-existing crisis, revealing connections between violence, unemployment, financial tensions and food insecurity.