Open AccessGender-Based Violence, Twin Pandemic to COVID-19
Author(s) -
Nobuhle Judy Dlamini
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
critical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1569-1632
pISSN - 0896-9205
DOI - 10.1177/0896920520975465
Subject(s) - pandemic , covid-19 , inequality , vulnerability (computing) , masculinity , social inequality , criminology , development economics , sociology , political science , economic growth , socioeconomics , gender studies , medicine , virology , economics , outbreak , computer security , disease , mathematical analysis , mathematics , pathology , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated existing inequalities within countries and across geographies. It reminded us how the world and its people are interconnected. Gender-based violence (GBV), which is an expression of gender inequality and toxic masculinity, is another pandemic that exists in all societies at varying degrees of prevalence and severity. 1 It requires the same effort and attention that governments globally have given to COVID-19. With half the world under lockdown as governments’ response to COVID-19, GBV increased significantly (UN Women, 2020a). The increase was a reminder of the need to have contingent mitigating mechanism to protect the marginalized, women and girls, against a co-existing pandemic, GBV. The intersection of marginalization and discrimination made certain groups of women more susceptible to GBV and COVID-19 pandemics. These intersecting social identities of vulnerability need equal attention in order to eradicate inequality (Simonovic, 2020).