Lockdown and Abuse: Not every house is a safe space
By: We Encourage
Tags: Intimate Partner Abuse, Domestic Violence, Domestic Abuse, Intimate Partner Violence, Wewomen

Lockdown and Abuse: Not every house is a safe space

For many people, their house is a safe haven. Away from stress, the outside world and, most importantly at the moment, the risk of coronavirus. We see countless posts and articles encouraging us to make our house a home, that it should be where we are most comfortable without social expectations. You can, and should, go home and relax. We Encourage Follow Apr 23, 2020 · 4 min read

But for many people, this is not true.

Work, school, coffee shops and anywhere outside of their house is the safest. For many homes are a place of fear, a place of violence. Their fellow inhabitants are the cause. This abuse can occur at any age. From familial abuse in childhood to spousal abuse in adulthood, and the abuse of the elderly.

At We Encourage, we are well aware of this. Predominantly women and girls, but also men and boys, are pressured into forced marriage both through emotional abuse and physical. Even if families have never been abusive before there may be threats. Of harming someone, of disownment, of the shame they would bring the family. We see this come to light far too infrequently with honor-based abuse and killings being rarely reported. Here the family, its pride, is more important than a daughter or son’s welfare. While for many the act of abusing a family member or spouse is unthinkable, for others it is a need for control, due to stress or it can be substance-related. These factors do not excuse the act, they just help explain it.

In the US domestic hotlines ordinarily receive 20,000 phone calls a day and it is estimated that 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner. That is 10 million people a year just in the US. The World Health Organisation says that 1 in 3 women in the world experience physical or sexual violence. Yet still many people ignore this problem.

It is alright to be uncomfortable with the idea of domestic abuse. But it is not alright to ignore it.

Now, in times of lockdown, the numbers are rising.

In times of medical and financial uncertainty, where many lives have been interrupted and turned upside down, as people are losing jobs and security, and the above factors are exacerbated. You could expect current perpetrators to increase their actions, and potential perpetrators to start.

This is unfortunately what we are seeing. For many, there is no escape. Even a large, beautiful house can be a prison if you are trapped inside. In some areas, the rate has increased by 40–50%. Lockdown is making victims more vulnerable. Where they might have had time away from their partner to call someone, their phone is more at risk of being monitored. Their actions are more at risk of being monitored. Victims who could leave the house for work, may not be allowed to leave. Being able to leave permanently is even harder. Financial issues, the lack of space in women’s shelters and the general lack of movement makes escape more difficult than ever and traditional methods of help may be unavailable.

We Encourage is building a conversational AI tool to help victims of abuse.

We Encourage is aware of these issues, especially when it comes to forced marriages. We are in conversations for collaboration with the United Nations Technology and Innovation Lab, UNTIL for building a conversational AI tool for providing psycho-social support and guidance to women victims of intimate partner violence, gender based violence and to promote sexual and reproductive health. This includes acting as a reliable source of information on a woman’s rights and places they can seek support to ensure wellbeing for all ages and empower women and girls in difficult situations.

In the current climate of uncertainty we need to protect the people most at risk. Awareness and reducing ignorance to the situation is key. The current state of the world will never excuse domestic violence, but that it occurs is an unfortunate fact. We need to work together to change this. For more information on specific details of our mission see our blog post “Every Girl has the right to education”, or join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Text by: Emily Stamp

Visuals by: Kristina Mancheva

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