MEASURING THE SHADOW PANDEMIC:

VIOLENCE AGAINSTWOMEN DURING
COVID-19
1

ABOUT THIS REPORT:
This publication compiles and analyses the results of Rapid Gender Assessment surveys on the impact of COVID-19 on violenceagainst women (VAW RGAs) in 13 countries. UN Women led this study, in collaboration with Ipsos, with support from national
statistical offices, national women’s machineries and a technical advisory group of experts to guide the overall survey process.
To address the challenges related to face-to-face data collection during lockdowns and restricted mobility periods, the VAW
RGAs use innovative methods to collect VAW data remotely while observing safety and ethical protocols. The report confirms that
COVID-19 has resulted in a significant increase in violence against women, negatively affecting women’s feelings of safety andmental health. Additional resources related to the report, including methodological note, endnotes and microdata can be found on
the Women Count Data Hub at: https://data.unwomen.org/publications/vaw-rga
eISBN: 9789210012232

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
UN Women would like to thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their generous financial support
to the Rapid Gender Assessments on the impact of COVID-19 on violence against women project.
Chief of the Research and Data Section: Papa Seck
Report lead: Jessamyn Encarnacion
Report authors: Ramya Emandi, Jessamyn Encarnacion, Papa Seck, Rea Jean Tabaco
Statistics: Ramya Emandi, Ghida Ismail, Rea Jean Tabaco
Report coordinator: Ramya Emandi
Data collection: Ipsos
Technical advisory group Naeemah Abrahams (South African Medical Research Council), Michelle Decker (Johns Hopkins
University), Kristin Diemer (University of Melbourne), Diva Dhar (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Yvette Efevbera (Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation), Claudia Garcia-Moreno (World Health Organization), Henriette Jansen (former United Nations Population
Fund Asia-Pacific), Aprajita Mukherjee (Breakthrough India), Anita Raj (University of California San Diego), Omar Seidu (Ghana
Statistical Services), Jay Silverman (University of California San Diego)
Contributors, partners, reviewers:
UN Women staff at headquarters
Ginette Azcona, Antra Bhatt, Lauren Billi, Khamsavath Chanthavysouk, Kalliopi Mingeirou, Juncal Plazaola Castaño,
Raphaelle Rafin, Karla Ramirez, Laura Turquet
UN Women staff in country and regional offices
Arab States: Manal Benkirane, Sophia Benamar, Diya Nanda, Manal Sweidan
Asia and the Pacific: Melissa Alvarado, Sara Duerto Valero, Narudee Janthasing, Md Shohel Rana
East and Southern Africa: Maureen Gitonga, Isabella Schmidt, Cane bele Oganga, Grace Wnagechi Kahuria, Sunita Caminha
Europe and Central Asia: Azima Abakirova, Anara Aitkurmanova, Estela Bulku, Megi Llubani, Alba Agolli, Tetyana Kudina, Nadejda
Lutenco, Ala Negruta, Nargis Azizova
Latin America and the Caribbean: Rolando Crespo, Michael Francis Craft, Marlene Heinrich, Diana Espinosa,
Ana Burgos Gonzalez, Michelle Mendes Meireles Silva, Lucio Severo, Leah Tandeter, Ernesto Trevino, Ana Quintana
West and Central Africa: Tosin Akibu, Arlette Bikomo Belinga Epse Mvondo, Yacouba Doumbia, Patience Ekeoba,
Jean-Marie Vianney Meango, Michelle Seroussi, Uilrich Waffo, Salomon Mfouapon
UN system and beyond
World Bank: Kathleen Beegle, Daniel Halim, Elizaveta Perova, Diego Javier Ubfal; Centre for Disease Control (CDC): Kathleen
Basile; IPA: Ellen Bates-Jefferys, Pace Phillips, Radha Rajkotia; Food and Agriculture Organization: Sara Viviani
Production, communication and outreach: Lauren Billi, Jacqueline Gordillo, Mika Mansukhani, Samrat Maskey, Svenja Siemonsen
Substantive editor: Jen Ross
Design: Blossom.it© UN Women 2021
All rights reserved
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of UN Women, theUnited Nations or any of its affiliated organizations. For a list of any errors or omissions found subsequent to the report launchplease visit our website.

2

INTRODUCTION
Violence against women (VAW) is a human rights violation,with often devastating immediate and long-term
consequences. Women around the world experience it invarious forms, settings, levels of frequency and severity, atthe hands of intimate partners, family members or others.
In addition, women’s feelings of insecurity restrict theirlives in myriad ways, hampering their health, as well as
their civil, political, economic and social rights. Women’ssafety is the gateway to basic health, living standards
and empowerment, and a necessary condition to achieve
gender equality.

The shadow pandemic
Widespread stay-at-home orders to curb the spreadof COVID-19 potentially locked women down with theirabusers, creating dangerous conditions for violenceagainst women, often with tragic consequences. Using
administrative data from police, violence against women
hotlines, and other service-providers, and analysing big
data from online searches and social media posts, UN
Women research1 has found that violence against womenand girls has intensified since the outbreak of COVID-19.
This coincided in many countries with a reduction inservices to support survivors, partly due to operational
challenges and reduced funding for law enforcement
agencies and local women’s organizations, which play
an essential role in VAW service-provision.2 This has led toseveral calls to end violence against women, including by
United Nations’ Secretary-General António Guterres3 andUN Women’s former Executive Director, who coined theterm the “shadow pandemic”.4
As a result, UN Women has mounted a multifaceted
response to address this shadow pandemic.5 This has
involved working with local governments, justice, policeand health sectors as well as civil society and grassroots women’s organizations to ensure safe public
spaces for women and girls during the crisis and tostrengthen the capacities of front-line service-providers,shelters and helplines. UN Women has supported mass
media and social media sensitization on COVID-19related VAW increases, and ways to prevent it, including

through positive masculinities, and equitable sharingof household responsibilities. UN Women has provided
training and technical support, developed research andpolicy advice and disseminated relevant guidelines andrecommendations on VAW responses amid the pandemic.
This includes support on applying gender-responsive
budgeting across COVID-19 support and recovery andfiscal responses. UN Women has been working withgovernments and partners to ensure that measures toaddress violence against women and girls are included
in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts at country,
regional and global levels, as well as issuing various public
recommendations. According to the UN Women-UNDP
COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, launched in
2020, more than half (853 of the 1,605 gender-sensitive
measures introduced by countries) have focused on
addressing violence against women in particular.6

UN Women’s timely data response
Since April 2020, UN Women been leading the charge fordata to inform a gender-sensitive response to COVID-19.
UN Women teamed up with national statistics offices,
governmental entities and international partners to rollout Rapid Gender Assessment surveys (RGAs) on thesocioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 in 58 countries.7
These RGAs focused mainly on the gendered impacts
on employment, income, unpaid care and domestic
work, access to goods and services, and relief and social
protection measures.
With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
between April and September 2021, UN Women conducted
RGAs specifically focused on VAW (hereafter referred toas VAW RGAs) and COVID-19 in 13 countries spanning all
regions to better understand the extent of the shadow
pandemic and produce much-needed data on VAW
and women’s safety, both in public and private spaces,
as well as on their mental well-being. The RGAs aim
to promote the accelerated use of VAW data to inform
policymaking, service-provision and advocacy by global,
regional and national stakeholders, governments andcivil society organizations. The results equally aim to3

inform a forthcoming guidance note on remote VAW datacollection during crises while ensuring ethical and safety
considerations based on empirical evidence from survey
field operations.
The VAW RGAs were implemented in Albania, Bangladesh,
Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Kenya,
Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand andUkraine with the general support of national statistical
offices (NSOs), national women’s machineries, and guided
by a technical advisory group of experts in VAW statistics
and agencies that have conducted similar initiatives. These
safeguards were important given the sensitivity of thesubject matter and the ethical and technical requirements,
but also to promote the uptake and use of the results forevidence-based policymaking. To ensure comparability,
the survey was conducted with Ipsos as the survey
research partner (see Box 1 and the Technical Note formore details on the methodology).

Innovative data collection
The report presents evidence on the impacts of COVID-19
on VAW. Unlike other health surveys with VAW modules that
focus on women of reproductive age, the VAW RGA also
captures the views and experiences of women over 49 yearsof age and reveals some interesting differences. Specifically,
the RGAs aim to describe the situation and characteristics
of women who said that they, or other women they know,
has experienced violence. Beyond experiences, women’s
feelings of safety at home or in the community is also
examined, followed by an analysis of their perceptionsof violence and their mental and emotional well-being.
These survey results complement UN Women’s policy andprogrammatic guidance since the start of the pandemic,
the 58 RGAs on the socioeconomic impact, the UN Women/
UNDP COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, and the
UN Women and WHO Guidance on Violence against Womenand Girls Data Collection during COVID-19.

BOX 1
How were the assessments conducted?
This research was undertaken in two phases, primarily
for the learnings from Phase I (April–June 2021)
to inform Phase II (August–September 2021) and
optimize survey tools and protocols. Countries wereselected based on regional diversity, with priority
given to low-middle income countries implementing
related UN Women programmes, as well as certain
operational considerations. Working with Ipsos, data
were collected from 16,154 women (at least 1,200 per
country) ages 18 years and over, while considering
nationally-representative geographic and age group
distribution. Since the VAW RGAs were implemented
using computer-assisted telephone interviewing(CATI), the respondents were limited to womenwith access to mobile phones. Reporting levels may
be affected by cultural differences in revealing
information remotely.
Cognizant that restrictions of movement mean
women who experience violence are likely trappedat home with their abusers, the privacy and safety of
respondents were of utmost priority. Ethical and safety
protocols were enacted such as ensuring that womenare alone when responding, use of a safe word by the
respondent at any point during the survey, ensuring
speakerphone or call recording were not in use,
providing support resources to all, etc.

4

The survey asked indirect or direct questions on
respondents’ safety in private and public spaces.
Respondents could answer the questions based on
their own feelings and perceptions and/or thoseof the people in the area where they live. Women
were also asked about either their own experiences
or if they know other survivors of VAW in any spaceby any perpetrator. Research suggests that indirectquestions used to measure VAW during COVID-19
have resulted in conclusive evidence in Indonesia,
Peru and Uganda.8 Results of this study indicate asimilar pattern (Box 2 and Technical Note). In addition,
direct questions on VAW experiences were used in
Colombia to enhance the evidence-based update of
methodologies of VAW data collection.
For the purpose of the assessments, the experiences
of VAW are defined as: physical abuse (i.e., beenslapped, hit, kicked, had things thrown at them, orother physical harm); verbal abuse (i.e., being yelled
at, called names, humiliated); denied basic needs(i.e., health care, money, food, water, shelter); denied
communication (i.e., with other people, including
being forced to stay alone for long periods of time);and sexual harassment (i.e., being subjected toinappropriate jokes, suggestive comments, leering or
unwelcome touch/kisses).

SINCE THE PANDEMIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN HAS INCREASED
of women reported that they
or a woman they know has
experienced a form of VAW
since COVID-19

45%

4 in 10 womenof women reported
experiencing
it in their lifetime

65%

1 in 4 women• say that household conflicts
have become more frequent• feel more unsafe in their home

feel more unsafe
in public spaces

1 in 5 women

1 in 2 womenfeel unsafe walking
alone during the day

feel unsafe walking
alone at night

7 in 10 women

6 in 10 women

3 in 10 womensaid they think that verbal or
physical abuse by a partner
has become more common

said they think sexual
harassment in public has
worsened

think that VAW in theircommunity has increased

WHO IS LIKELY TO BE FOOD-INSECURE?
Women who have experienced or know a woman
who has experienced VAW since COVID-19

58%

Women who feel less safe
at home since COVID-19

56%

WHICH WOMEN ARE MOST AFFECTED?
Younger women

48%

42%

1 in 2 womenreported having experienced
violence or knowing a woman
who has, since the pandemic

women
aged
18-49

women
aged
50–59

Women living with children

34%

women
aged
60+

Unemployed women

Unemployed
women

Employed
womenwith children experienced
violence or know a woman
who has, compared to37%

partnered women
without children

41%

nonpartnered women
without children

Women living in rural areas

reported VAWexperiences

feel less safe
at homefeel less safe
walking alone
in public at
night

52%

33%

50%

43%

1 in 2 women

26%

37%

44%

were more likely to report feelingmore unsafe while walking
alone at night since COVID-19,
compared to women living inurban areas (39%).

62%

were also more likely to thinkthat sexual harassment inpublic spaces has worsened,
compared to 55% of women
living in urban areas.

5NEW SURVEY DATA CONFIRMA SHADOW PANDEMIC
According to recent estimates, globally, 245 million women and girls aged 15 years or over havebeen subjected to sexual and/or physical violence perpetrated by an intimate partner in the previous
12 months.9
To what extent is violence in private and public spheres exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Pooled estimates from 13 countries covering more than 16,000 women respondents answer thisquestion.

1 in 2 women reported that they ora woman they know experienced aform of violence since the COVID-19
pandemic

the pandemic, such as lockdowns, curfews and social
distancing10. Similarly, 16% reported sexual harassment
and 15% reported physical abuse.

Based on the pooled data, 45% of women have been
exposed directly or indirectly to at least one form of
VAW (i.e., either they or other women they know haveexperienced one or more forms of violence) since the onsetof the pandemic. Exposure was highest among womenin Kenya (80%), Morocco (69%), Jordan (49%) and Nigeria(48%). Those in Paraguay were the least likely to report such
experiences, at 25%.

COVID-19 has exacerbateda pre-existing crisis

Verbal abuse and denial of basic resources were themost common forms of VAW reported (23%), since thepandemic began. Another 21% of respondents reported
denial of communication, although these may havebeen the result of measures taken to limit the spread of

6

Data on women reporting their own direct experience ofviolence during COVID-19 (i.e., not about other women theyknow), particularly from their intimate partner, are only
available for Colombia, where the rate was 12%. (See Box 2.)

The VAW RGAs reveal that high levels of violence against
women preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 2 in
3 women (65%) exposed directly or indirectly to at least one
form of VAW over their lifetime.
In Bangladesh (93%), Kenya (80%), Morocco (78%), Nigeria(68%) and Jordan (66%), over two thirds of women reported
such experiences.

FIGURE 1
Proportion of women who reported that they or a woman they know experienced a form of VAW since the
COVID-19 pandemic, by country, April–September 2021
100
90

80

80

69

Percentage

70
60

49

48

50

45

41

37

40

34

31

29

30

29

27

25

20
10

Paraguay

ThailandAlbania

Côte d'Ivoire

Kyrgyzstan

UkraineCameroon

Colombia

PooledNigeria

Kenya

MoroccoJordan0Note: Pooled estimates refer to 12 countries, excluding Bangladesh, due to differences in field operation on the question of whether the respondent or any
woman she knows had experienced VAW only since COVID-19.

FIGURE 2
Proportion of women who reported ever having experienced a form of VAW or knowing another woman who
experienced it, by country, April–September 2021
100

93

90

80

80

78
68

66

65

62

60

53

52

51

50

47
37

40

34

30

27

20
10

ThailandUkraineCameroon

Kyrgyzstan

Paraguay

Côte d'Ivoire

Albania

Colombia

PooledJordanNigeria

MoroccoKenya

0Bangladesh

Percentage

707Who is most likely to report having
experienced violence or to know awoman who has since COVID-19?
Further disaggregation of the data shows that certain
groups are particularly vulnerable. Younger women aged
18–49 years are the more vulnerable group, with nearly 1
in 2 of them affected. It is commonly assumed that violenceagainst women affects only women of a certain age. For
this reason, most surveys do not measure violence against
older women, and therefore fail to document a persistentand growing problem that intersects with population
ageing. However, data from the RGAs shows that this is not
the case, as more than 3 in 10 women (34%) aged 60+ andmore than 4 in 10 women aged 50–59 years (42%) reported
having experienced violence or knowing someone who hassince the pandemic began. Policies designed to address
VAW must also consider particularly vulnerable groups, suchas older women. Moreover, data-collection instruments,
which are mainly capped at age 49, need to be revised tosystematically measure the experienced of older women.11
Women living with children were more likely to reporthaving experienced violence or to know someone who
has since COVID-19, whether they were partnered (47%)
or not 48%). Conversely, nearly 4 in 10 women living
without children, partnered (37%) or not (41%), reported
such experiences. Women who were not employed during
the pandemic were also particularly affected, with anestimated 52% reporting such experiences, compared to
43% of employed women.

FIGURE 3
Proportion of women who reported experiencing or knowing a woman who experienced VAW since COVID-19,
by age group and employment status, April–September 2021

52

Unemployed50

Student

48

Full-time caregivers

43

Employed

48

18-49

42

50-59

34

60+

45

Pooled

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percentage
Note: Pooled estimates refer to 12 countries, excluding Bangladesh, due to differences in field operation on the question of whether the respondent or any
woman she knows had experienced VAW only since COVID-19.

8

BOX 2
When asked directly, more than 1 in 10 women in Colombia reported their own experiences of physicalabuse by a partner during the pandemic
For most of the study, indirect questions wereused, tracking experiences either by respondents
themselves or by women they know. However,in Colombia, direct questions on experiences ofphysical abuse by a partner were included as new
ways to measure the extent of VAW during the
pandemic and to develop new methodologies for
VAW data collection during crises while ensuring
the safety of respondents. This inclusion followed
approval of the approach by both the heads ofthe country’s National Administrative Departmentof Statistics and Presidential Council for Women’s
Equity.

the number is relatively low, and may point to anunderestimation. For example:

In Colombia, 12% of women said that a partner had
been physically abusive to them at least once in thepast 12 months. Compared to other related questions
on domestic violence also asked in the survey,

In addition, official estimates for Colombia show
higher estimates with 1.5 times more women who
reported physical and/or sexual intimate partner
violence in the past 12 months (18%).12• The percentage of women who reported living inhouseholds with frequent conflict was almost threetimes higher (33%)• The percentage of women who reported not
feeling safe at home was 2.3 times greater (28%)• There were 1.5 times more women who said they
think that domestic violence is common in thecommunity (19%).

FIGURE 4
Proportion of women in Colombia who experienced physical abuse by a partner during COVID-19 andtheir related experiences or perceptions of domestic violence, August–September 2021
Among women who reported
that there was frequent conflictamong adult household
members in the past 6 months

33

Among women who reported
feeling unsafe at home in thepast 6 months

28

Among women who thinks thatdomestic violence is common in
the community

19

12National average

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Percentage

Note: ‘Experienced domestic violence’ refers to respondents who answered ‘Often,’ ‘A few times,’ and ‘Rarely’ to the question: “How often, if at all, in
the past 12 months, has a spouse or partner pushed you, thrown something at you that could hurt you, punched or slapped you?”‘Domestic violence’, also called ‘domestic abuse’, can be defined as a pattern of behaviour in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain powerand control over an intimate partner. This type of violence can include physical, sexual, psychological/emotional or economic actions or threats ofactions that influence another person. This includes any behaviours that frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure,or wound someone. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender. It can occur with any type of
couple (who is married, living together or dating). Domestic violence also affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.13

9

MANY WOMEN DO NOT FEEL
SAFE AT HOME OR IN PUBLIC
The study found that COVID-19 has eroded women’s feelings of safety, whether inside or outsideof 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.

Many women feel more unsafe athome during the pandemic

Kenya (45%) and Nigeria (39%) were more likely to report
this than in other countries. Women in Kyrgyzstan andUkraine were those least likely to report this, at 7% and 9%,
respectively.

1 in 4 women (23%) said that COVID-19 has made things
worse in terms of how safe they feel at home. Women from

FIGURE 5
Proportion of women who reported that COVID-19 has made them feel even less safe at home, by country,
April–September 2021
50

45
39

Percentage

40

30

23

23

23

23

21

20

18

16

15

15
11

10

9

7

10

Kyrgyzstan

UkraineColombia

Paraguay

Bangladesh

Albania

Côte d'Ivoire

JordanThailandPooledMoroccoCameroon

NigeriaKenya

0

35% of women reporting that they felt unsafe because they
were being physically abused by others in the household.
Meanwhile, 34% of Albanian women said they felt unsafe
because there was physical violence in their homes and 38%
said it was because other women in the household werebeing hurt.

When women were asked why they felt unsafe at home,many cited the occurrence or threat of physical violence as
one of the reasons (21% across the pooled sample). Some
women specifically reported that they were hurt by anotherfamily member (21%) or that other women in the household
were victimized (19%). In Ukraine, rates were higher, with

FIGURE 6
Proportion of women who reported occurrence or threat of physical violence at home, being hurt
by other adults in the household, and that other women in the household have been hurt as theirreason for not feeling safe at home, by country, April–September 2021
Occurrence or threat of physical violence at home
40

34
30

30

30

27

Percentage

24

22

21

21
18

20

18
14

14
11

10

5

Paraguay

14

14

Thailand

MoroccoJordanUkraineColombia

PooledKyrgyzstan

Bangladesh

Nigeria

Côte d'Ivoire

Kenya

Cameroon

Albania0

Respondent was hurt by other adults in the household
40

35
29

29

28

26

25
21

20

20

19

19

17

10

2

ThailandParaguay

MoroccoBangladesh

Côte d'Ivoire

Colombia

Kyrgyzstan

PooledCameroon

Kenya

Nigeria

JordanAlbania0
UkrainePercentage

30

11Other women in the household have been hurt

38

29

30

24

23
19

20

19

19
15

15

15
9

10

3

3

Thailand

Percentage

24

Bangladesh

40

Conflicts or arguments insidehomes may have intensified

Paraguay

UkraineMoroccoKyrgyzstan

PooledColombia

Cameroon

JordanKenya

Côte d'Ivoire

Nigeria

Albania0frequent or remained the same. Overall, 23% of womenreport that such conflicts have become more frequent
during the pandemic. Women from Kenya (43%), Jordan(39%), Bangladesh (36%), Morocco (30%), Albania (23%)
were more likely to report more frequent conflicts since theonset of COVID-19.

Women were asked whether COVID-19 has made conflicts
among adults in the household less frequent, more

FIGURE 7
Proportion of women who reported that COVID-19 has made conflict between adults in the household more
frequent, by country, April–September 2021
50

43

39

40

36

Percentage

30
30

23

23

20

20

16

16

16

15

12

10

10

8

Public spaces are dangerous andviolent spaces for many women
during the pandemic
Sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violenceagainst women and girls in public spaces are an everyday

12

Thailand

Kyrgyzstan

UkraineCôte d'Ivoire

Cameroon

Paraguay

Nigeria

Colombia

PooledAlbania

MoroccoBangladesh

JordanKenya

0occurrence around the world – in urban and rural areas, indeveloped and developing countries. VAW in public spaces
reduces women’s and girls’ freedom of movement and theirability to participate in school, work and in public life. It
limits their access to essential services, and their enjoymentof cultural and recreational opportunities. It also negatively
impacts their health and well-being.

Bangladesh (53%), Colombia (52%), Paraguay (45%) andNigeria (43%) reported the highest values while those inCôte d’Ivoire (19%) and Ukraine (13%) reported the lowest.

The pandemic has directly impacted women’s safety when
walking alone at night, with 40% of women across the 13
countries saying their feelings of safety have deteriorated
since the onset of COVID-19. Women in Kenya (55%),

FIGURE 8
Proportion of women who reported that COVID-19 made them feel less safe walking alone at night, by country,
April–September 2021
60

55

53

52
45

50

43

40

Percentage

40

34
29

30

29

25

22

21

20

19
13

10

In terms of their current feelings of safety in public, morethan 1 in 5 women (22%) reported feeling unsafe during
the day while walking alone in the area they live. That rateincreases to more than 1 in 2 (54%) who reported feelingunsafe walking around at night.
Women in Bangladesh (72%), Paraguay (62%), Kenya(60%) and Colombia (60%) were more likely to reportfeeling unsafe at night than respondents in the othercountries surveyed. Meanwhile, Jordan was the country
where the least number of women (30%) reported
feeling unsafe at night. However, it is important to notethat feelings of safety while walking alone depend on
women’s freedom of movement, which may be restricted
in certain contexts. Hence, the results in this section
should be interpreted with caution.

UkraineCôte d'Ivoire

Cameroon

Albania

Kyrgyzstan

MoroccoJordanThailandPooledNigeriaParaguay

Colombia

Bangladesh

Kenya

0

Household characteristics also reveal differences in termsof who reports feeling more unsafe at home. About 2 in
5 women (39%) who experience frequent conflict among
adults in their households reported feeling more unsafe
in their homes since COVID-19, which is about twice theproportion of those who reported infrequent (20%) or no
conflict (17%). Women living with children (26%), regardlessof marital status, also felt that COVID-19 made themfeel more unsafe at home since the pandemic began,compared to their counterparts without children (19%).
Similar to feelings of safety at home, women younger
than 60 (41%) are more likely to report that they feel lesssafe walking alone at night since COVID-19 compared
to women ages 60 and above (38%). More unemployed
women also report this (50%) than employed women (37%).

Who thinks COVID-19 has made themfeel less safe at home or in public?

External environments affect feelings of safety in public.
Women living in rural areas (44%) are more likely to reportfeeling more unsafe while walking alone at night since
COVID-19 than women living in urban areas (39%).

When disaggregated by age, more women younger than
60 report feeling more unsafe at home (24%) compared
to women aged 60 and above (19%). More unemployed
women report this (33%) than employed women (26%).

Women who reported that they feel less safe in public are
more likely to say that they never went out of the houseby themselves in the last month (11%) than those who feel
more safe walking alone at night since COVID-19 (6%) andthose who feel a similar level of safety (7%).

13

WOMEN THINK THATVIOLENCE HAS INCREASEDDURING COVID-19
Perceptions tell us what people believe about a given trend or problem, whether or not theseperceptions are based on reality. They often reflect individuals’ fears and ultimately influencepeople’s feelings of safety. Perceptions matter because they affect how people behave, in this casesometimes limiting women’s well-being at home, freedom, movement or willingness to engage inpublic life. This is particularly crucial during crises such as COVID-19, when survivors of violence
may feel reluctant to seek the support of families and friends, or support services provided by law
enforcement, government or civil society.

Most women think domestic
violence has increased during the
pandemic
From the pooled estimates for 13 countries, nearly 7 in
10 women (68%) think the incidence of physical or verbal
abuse by a spouse/partner violence14 has increased during
the pandemic in the area where they live. Women in Kenya(92%), Bangladesh (81%), Albania (79%), Jordan (74%) andNigeria (74%) had the highest perception of increased
violence while the lowest rate was in Kyrgyzstan (33%).
At the time of the survey, most women (56%) said they
think that domestic violence by a partner is still a common
phenomenon in their community, pointing to women’s
perception of the lingering effects of the pandemic. An
alarming 98% of Bangladeshi women think it is common, thehighest among all countries, followed by Kenya (68%), while
the lowest rate was among Thai women, at 11%. Prevalence
data may back these findings, as in another study,15Bangladesh was cited as having substantially high levels of

14

lifetime experiences of physical or sexual violence, at 75%.

Most women think that womenexperiencing domestic violence are
more likely to seek help from family
members
When asked whether women survivors of violence would
seek help in such scenarios, most respondents (8 in 10)
said they think these women would reach out for help,
with the family being the top option (49%). Only 11% of
respondents said they think women would reach out topolice; and 10% said women would go to women’s support
centres or groups.
Notably, women in Thailand, Ukraine, Paraguay and Kenya
were more willing to seek help from police compared toother countries, although their first preference would be toreceive support from family.

FIGURE 9
Proportion of women who reported that physical or verbal abuse by a spouse/partner has increased in theircommunity during the pandemic, by country, April–September 2021
100

92
81

90

79

Percentage

80

74

74

68

68

70

59

59

60

57

54
43

50
40

38

33

30
20
10
Kyrgyzstan

Cameroon

Colombia

Paraguay

ThailandUkraineCôte d'Ivoire

PooledMoroccoNigeria

JordanAlbania

Bangladesh

Kenya

0

Here again, rates were highest among respondents in
Bangladesh (62%) and in Kenya (48%).

3 in 10 women think that violenceagainst women has increased

Women who reported feeling more unsafe walking at night
were also more than twice as likely to perceive that violence
has increased in their community (49%) compared to those
who reported feeling safer (21%) or whose feelings of safety
haven’t changed with the pandemic (19%).

Across the 13 countries, 31% of women said they believethat VAW has increased as a result of COVID-19.

FIGURE 10
Proportion of women who said they think that violence against women in the community increased during the
pandemic, by country, April–September 2021
62

60
Percentage

40

31

30

30

29

25

23

21

20

15

14

14

11

10

Kyrgyzstan

48

50

Jordan70

10

6

Most women think that sexual
harassment in public is worse
Women were asked about their perception of the safetyof women of their communities in public spaces during
evenings with the help of a vignette.16

ThailandUkraineCôte d'Ivoire

Cameroon

MoroccoColombia

Nigeria

AlbaniaParaguay

PooledKenya

Bangladesh

0Data from the 13 countries show that more than half (58%)
of women said they think that sexual harassment in public
spaces has worsened amid COVID-19. Women in Kenya (81%),
Bangladesh (70%) and Nigeria (67%) were those most likely toperceive an increased incidence of sexual harassment.
On average, almost 8 in 10 women reported that they
believed women would seek help in such circumstances.
Nearly all (99%) of women said so in Bangladesh.

15

is evident that women think of seeking help from police
more when it comes to problems beyond the family realm,such as sexual harassment in public spaces, denoting theimportance of having support services readily available,
accessible and known to women.

In contrast to domestic violence, when respondents wereasked where women experiencing sexual harassment inpublic spaces would seek help, 33% of women reported
that survivors would primarily seek help from police; 29%
believed women would reach out to family first; and 12%
women said survivors would go to community leaders. It

FIGURE 11
Proportion of women who think that sexual harassment increased during the pandemic, by country, April–
September 2021
100
90

81
70

Percentage

80
70

67

58

60

57

56

53

53

50

45

40

39

31

31

30

27
16

20
10

Kyrgyzstan

Colombia

UkraineCameroon

Paraguay

Côte d'Ivoire

MoroccoJordanThailandAlbania

PooledNigeria

Kenya

Bangladesh0

Who is most likely to think violenceagainst women has worsened•

Women who think the incidence of physical or verbal abuse
by a spouse/partner violence has increased amid the
pandemic in the area where they live are more likely to be:

Women who think that sexual harassment in public spaces
has worsened during the pandemic are more likely to be:•Younger women aged 18–49 (70%), although this is only
slightly higher than for women aged 50–59 (67%) andwomen aged 60+ (63%).

••

Women living with children, regardless of whether they
have a partner (72%) or not (69%), compared to those
without children, whether partnered (63%) or without apartner (64%).

Younger women aged 18–49 (58%), although this is
closely followed by women aged 50–59 years (56%)
and women aged 60+ (55%).
Women living in rural areas (62%), compared to 55%
among their counterparts in urban areas.

FIGURE 12
Proportion of women who think that violence against women in private and public spheres worsened during
the pandemic, by age group
80

70

67

70

58

56

Percentage

60

68

63

58

55

50
40

Women who think that sexual
harassment in public spaces
worsened during the pandemic

30
20
10
0
18-49

16

Women who think the incidenceof physical or verbal abuse by
a spouse/partner violence has
increased in the area where they
live during the pandemic

50-59

60+

PooledVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMENDURING COVID-19 IS
LINKED TO OTHER NEGATIVEOUTCOMES
Besides the physical and health impacts of violence against women during the pandemic, there areother negative outcomes of the pandemic that compound the vulnerability or the level of despair
for many women experiencing VAW. In particular, the survey included questions on how COVID-19
is affecting women’s mental/emotional health (stress, anxiety, confidence, etc.) and food security.
Cross-tabulating these indicators shows some worrying intersections.

More than 2 in 5 women said that
COVID-19 has worsened their overallmental and emotional health
Overall, 41% of women reported that their mental andemotional health have been negatively affected as a resultof the pandemic. This, in part, could be associated withincreased VAW.
Indeed, respondents who reported experiences with VAW,
feelings of insecurity, or perceptions of the worsening
VAW situation during COVID-19 were more likely to reportincreased stress and strains on their mental health. For
example, women who experienced or know other women
who experienced a form of VAW since COVID-19 were 1.3
times as likely to report increased mental and emotional
stress as women who did not. Women who reported
feeling more unsafe at home or in public since COVID-19
were 1.3 and 1.2 times as likely, respectively, to reportincreased mental and emotional stress as women who

did not. Women who perceived that domestic violence,
sexual harassment or VAW in general have increased in
the community during COVID-19 were respectively 1.3,
1.2 and 1.4 times as likely to report increased mental andemotional stress as women who did not. This suggests that
VAW – whether measured through their own or others’
experiences, feelings of safety, or perceptions – hasespecially impacted women’s mental and emotional wellbeing.
These findings corroborate past research17 on theconsequences of VAW on women’s health, with directconsequences in terms of mental illnesses, such as
depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or
attempted suicide. This calls for more resources to beallocated for the provision of quality, accessible andavailable mental health services to ensure psychosocial
support for women and girls who experience violence andfor strengthening capacities of first responders, including
health workers, law enforcement and court officials andemergency shelter and counselling staff, to effectively
identify and treat or refer VAW survivors to relevant healthand counselling services.

17

VAW correlates with food insecurity
for women
A similar phone survey on gender-based violence inIndonesia conducted by the World Bank18 found thathousehold food insecurity is among the strongest
predictors of exposure to gender-based violence.
Building on this work, this study examined women’s
experience of food insecurity in their household, using
the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO)

methodology for monitoring Sustainable Development
Goal indicator 2.1.1.19
On average, around 4 in 10 women (38%) are likely to
be food insecure, whether moderately or severely. Whencross-tabulated with the indicator on women who haveexperienced or know other women who have experienced
VAW since COVID-19 (58%) and among women who feelless safe at home since the pandemic (56%), the results
reveal a positive relationship, suggesting an additional
stressor for these women or even possibly the denial offood as a manifestation of such violence.

FIGURE 13
Prevalence of food insecurity and VAW-related indicators during COVID-19, April–September 2021

Among women who
reported that they orother women they know
experience a form of VAW
since COVID-19

58

Among women who
reported that COVID-19
made feelings of safety athome worse

56

38

Pooled

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Percentage

Who is most likely to reportmental/emotional stress or foodinsecurity?
Further disaggregation of data finds that full-time
caregivers (46%) and unemployed women (45%) are more
likely to report their mental health being negatively affected
due to the pandemic. Students and employed womenreported such circumstance at 39% and 38%, respectively.

18

Disaggregation of data shows that particular groups ofwomen are more food insecure. Women aged less than
50 years are more likely to be moderately or severely foodinsecure (39-42%) as compared with those aged 50-59
years (34%) and 60+ years (33%). In terms of presence ofchildren in the household, women living with children are
more likely to be moderately or severely food insecure thanthose without (42% and 32%, respectively). The same groups
of women are also more likely to experience or know other
women who experienced VAW since COVID-19 (earlier
discussed) showing that they are not only at higher risk ofviolence but also of denial of food needs.

CALL TO ACTION
Results of the study yield important insights into how the
COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated violence, revealing
connections between violence, food insecurity andconsequences on women’s mental health. The starksocio-economic inequalities worsened by the pandemic
have placed the most vulnerable groups of women at aneven higher risk of violence, as a loss of income for women inabusive situations makes it even harder for them to escape.
These risks are evident when looking at differences inexperiences, feelings or perceptions of VAW among womenacross age groups, employment status, and those living withor without children. In the aftermath of the crisis, violenceagainst women and girls will continue to escalate, as long as
unemployment, financial strains and insecurity persist.
To prevent violence against women, it is necessary forpolicies to integrate comprehensive measures to provide
social protection and economic support to survivors ofviolence, as done by Colombia to mitigate the impacts of
COVID-19.20 In addition, UN Women and UNDP’s global
database on pandemic-related policies adopted bycountries to address women’s economic and social security,
unpaid care work and violence against women show asignificant response with 853 out of 1,605 (53%) gendersensitive measures adopted by countries to specificallyaddress violence against women. However, more is needed
as significant gaps persist to mount a more comprehensive
and effective response, which requires putting women at
the centre of policy change and addressing the structuraland root causes of VAW.
The results of the VAW RGAs suggests the need for at least
five main actions:1.

2.

Put women at the centre of responses, including policy
solutions, to ensure that women’s voices, needs andrights are reflected in pandemic responses, recovery,planning and decision-making, for example throughtheir equal representation in COVID-19 task forces.
Globally, women still make up less than a quarter(24%) of COVID-19 task force members. States canaddress this gap by involving women’s organizations
in recovery plans and longer-term solutions to address
the increase of violence against women and girls
during COVID-19.
Allocate additional resources and include evidencebased measures to address violence against womenand girls in COVID-19 recovery and response plans
through holistic and multisectoral measures that are
fully integrated within national and local policies.
These should not be seen as emergency, short-term or
stop-gap initiatives, but measures that will last as long

3.

4.

5.

as needed to address the long-term impacts of thepandemic.
Strengthen services for women who experience
violence, including where COVID-19 has increased
existing risk factors and vulnerabilities. Efforts
implemented since the onset of the pandemic tostrengthen services – including shelters, hotlines andreporting mechanisms, psychosocial support, and police
and justice responses to address impunity – must be
maintained as a priority of recovery plans. Identified
gaps must be addressed for all women and girls to beaware of and able to access quality available services.
Invest in medium- and long-term prevention efforts
to end violence against women and girls that address
gender norms, root causes and risk factors, especiallyfor those that have been exacerbated by COVID-19.
Prevention initiatives can include the creation ofawareness and messaging to influence social norms
through media, the development of dedicated curricula
in both formal and informal education systems, and theprovision of economic and livelihoods support to womenand households.
Ensure that gender statistics and sex-disaggregateddata are collected regularly, including to measure
the impacts of COVID-19 and short- and long-term
violence against women and girls, to inform responses.
This includes resuming national prevalence survey datacollection on VAW and strengthening administrative
data systems to assess the needs and capacity ofservices to respond to the increased demand in
the context of COVID-19. Ensure that data captureintersectionality and neglected groups such as women
aged 50 years or over. To this end, further investments ingender data are paramount.21 In settings where regularprevalence surveys cannot be conducted, the VAW
RGAs have shown that through innovative techniques,
high quality data can be collected without necessarily
putting women’s safety and security at risk.

Ultimately, the purpose of data collection and analysis
is to inform policies, research and advocacy to improve
people’s lives. We urge policymakers, service-providers,
researchers, media and advocates alike to make use of
the findings of this VAW RGAs to fuel evidence-based
decision-making. UN Women’s RGAs on the socioeconomic
impacts of COVID-19 (some of which included questions
on women’s well-being and safety) have alreadystrengthened national efforts to combat the pandemicrelated surge of violence against women and girls.22 With
this new data from these VAW RGAs, UN Women is also
advocating for their use in the design of VAW policies andmeasures during the pandemic and beyond.
19

ENDNOTES

20

1

UN Women, UNFPA and Quilt.ai. 2021. "COVID-19 and violence against
women: The evidence behind the talk. Insights from big data analysis in
Asian countries." https://data.unwomen.org/publications/covid-19-andviolence-against-women-evidence-behind-talk2

Majumdar, S. and Wood, G. 2020: “UNTF EVAW Briefing Note on the
Impact of COVID-19 on violence against women through the lens of Civil
Society and Women’s Rights Organizations.” New York: UN Trust Fund
to End Violence against Women, May. https://www2.unwomen.org/-/
media/field%20office%20untf/publications/2020/external%20brief/
external%20brief%20for%20publication%206%2019/impact%20of%20
covid-19_v08_single%20page-compressed.pdf?la=en&vs=5117

3

Guterres, António. N.D. “Make the prevention and redress of violenceagainst women a key part of national response plans for COVID-19.”
United Nations COVID-19 response website. https://www.un.org/en/
un-coronavirus-communications-team/make-prevention-and-redressviolence-against-women-key-part4

Mlambo-Ngcuka, Phumzile. 2020. “Violence against women and girls:
the shadow pandemic: Statement by Executive Director of UN Women.”
6 April. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/4/statemented-phumzile-violence-against-women-during-pandemic

5

UN Women. 2021. “In Focus: End Violence against Women.” https://www.
unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/end-violence-against-women ; UN
Women. 2020. “COVID-19 and violence against women and girls.” https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/
Sections/Library/Publications/2020/Policy-brief-COVID-19-andviolence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf ; and UN Women’s series ofpolicy briefs available at https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2015/12/un-women-policy-brief-series

6

UNDP. N.D. “COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker.” Data Futures
Platform. [Accessed 16 November 2021] https://data.undp.org/
gendertracker/

7

As of November 2021.

8Peterman, Amber. 2021. "The Art of Indirect Measures: Asking about
Violence Against Women and Children in Remote Surveys". Center for
Global Development. [Accessed on 17 November 2021] https://www.
cgdev.org/blog/art-indirect-measures-asking-about-violence-againstwomen-and-children-remote-surveys.

9

World Health Organization, on behalf of the United Nations InterAgency Working Group on Violence Against Women Estimation and Data
(UNICEF, UNFPA, UNODC, UNSD, UN Women). 2021. Violence against
women prevalence estimates, 2018: Global, regional and national
prevalence estimates for intimate partner violence against womenand global and regional prevalence estimates for non-partner sexual
violence against women. [Accessed 5 November 2021].
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240022256.

10

UN Women forthcoming report, 2021, Cognitive testing for rapid genderassessment on the Impacts of COVID-19 on violence against women.

11This is presently being addressed by the UN Women and WHO Joint
Programme on Data on Violence against Women

12

UN Women. Global Database on Violence against Women. “Colombia”.
[Accessed 19 November 2021] https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.
org/en/countries/americas/colombia.

13

United Nations COVID-19 Response. N.D. “What is domestic abuse?”,[Accessed 30 October 2021]. https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/whatis-domestic-abuse

14

This is referred to as domestic violence in the report. See link for thedefinition, https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/what-is-domestic-abuse

15

Hindin, Michelle J., Sunita Kishor, and Donna L. Ansara. 2008. “Intimate
Partner Violence among Couples in 10 DHS Countries: Predictors and
Health Outcomes.” DHS Analytical Studies No. 18. Calverton, Maryland,
USA: Macro International Inc. [Accessed 12 November 2021] https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/AS18/AS18.pdf

16Vignette question on sexual harassment used in this study: [Scripter:
insert Female name] is a woman. She sells goods in a store in town,
she commutes to and from the store in the morning and in the evening.
[Scripter: insert Female name] often finds herself alone in the store,especially when she is in charge of closing it at night. Sometimes, men
in the town come into the store to say things about her appearance andtheir desires that are unpleasant and make her feel unsafe. Because ofthis [Scripter: insert Female name] is afraid of traveling in the evening, incase one of them may harm her.

17

UN Women. 2010. "Consequences and costs." Virtual Knowledge Center
to End Violence against Women and girls. https://www.endvawnow.org/
en/articles/301-consequences-and-costs-.html

18

Halim, Daniel; Can, England Rhys; Perova, Elizaveta. 2020. “What Factors
Exacerbate and Mitigate the Risk of Gender-Based Violence During
COVID-19?: Insights from a Phone Survey in Indonesia.” World Bank,
Washington, DC. [Accessed 16 November 2021].
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35007

19

The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is experience-based
measures of household or individual food security, which measures
whether During the last 12 months, there was a time when, becauseof lack of money or other resources: the respondent 1) was worried (s)he would not have enough food to eat; was unable to eat healthy andnutritious food; 3) ate only a few kinds of foods; 4) skipped a meal; 5)
ate less than (s)he thought (s)he should; 6) Her/His household ran out
of food; 7) were hungry but did not eat; 8) went without eating for awhole day.

20 UN Women and UNDP. 2021. "COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker
Fact Sheets". Version 2. https://www.undp.org/publications/covid-19global-gender-response-tracker-fact-sheets21

The latest data from the Partner Report on Support to Statistics 2021
(https://paris21.org/press), although financing for gender data has
steadily increased, it has plateaued in recent years. At the sametime, financing sources have been diversifying, with funding fromphilanthropic foundations increasing in recent years. A case in point isthat this project on the VAW RGAs was funded by the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation. However, financing for gender data is still dependent
on a small group of top donors.

22 For more examples, see: UN Women. 2021. Women Count Annual Report2020. https://data.unwomen.org/publications/women-countannual-report-2020.

21