COVID-19 heightened levels of violence and abuse to which women and children were subjected while narrowing opportunities to access support. For Black and minoritised survivors and organisations, the pandemic exacerbated existing racialised and gendered inequalities. We discuss the ways in which both were impacted and how organisations responded with agility to reshape their life-saving work during the health crisis.
COVID-19 has had huge global ramifications and as a society we are still trying to manage its social and economic costs and repercussions. As a significant health crisis, within a context of widening inequality, it soon became evident that COVID-19 did not affect everyone in the same way. Pre-existing gendered and racialised barriers in women’s equal access to rights and opportunities in health, housing, employment and social welfare were intensified.
For Black and minoritised survivors subjected to domestic, sexual and other forms of violence in the home, online or in public spaces, COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns were weaponised by perpetrators who knew that it was much harder for women to seek help. Women’s everyday lives were under increased control and surveillance – from eating to going to the bathroom – while they were isolated from the outside world within homes, intensifying and reinforcing familiar patterns and dynamics of abuse. Children were at greater risk of harm, from witnessing violence to being victims of abuse themselves. Women were subjected to sexual violence by extended family members, and increased levels of verbal and emotional abuse. If they managed to get help, it was often at a point by which the violence had severely escalated. Overall, the violence in Black and minoritised women’s lives increased at multiple, interlocking levels.
Organisations set up to offer specific and dedicated support to Black and minoritised survivors had to rapidly transform and reshape, creating online access to crisis accommodation, advice, advocacy and therapeutic support in ways that had never been offered in pre-pandemic times. Soon demand for support exceeded capacity. Some spoke of a 300 per cent increase in survivors accessing support. Advocates had to identify ways of assessing risk and develop appropriate strategies to support women’s safety in the absence of face-to-face contact and in situations of potential jeopardy/danger within women’s homes where there was only a short window of opportunity to communicate. Staff developed code words and extended helpline hours. Remote support worked for some but not everyone; COVID-19 exposed digital inequality in a way that had not before been witnessed.
Such organisations were also grappling with the challenges of delivering support in a context of pre-existing structural inequality. Specialist grassroots organisations have been subjected to decades of disinvestment and underfunding. Consequently, these organisations entered the pandemic with a shortfall of 39 per cent, unlike generic, larger organisations which are six times more likely to obtain funding successfully.
By and for organisations for Black and minoritised survivors occupy a very specific space in the VAWG sector. Aside from funding, the pressures for these organisations are greater because of the intersectional support and advocacy they provide including having to challenge discriminatory responses from mainstream agencies
Access to support was much more challenging given a diminished statutory sector, characterised by delays, non-responses or refusals of support. This was particularly felt by women with insecure immigration status who are at a higher risk of destitution and further exploitation because of unequal legal rights. Similar to pre-COVID times, women from migrant communities found sanctuary and support amongst Black and minoritised-led organisations, with many of these reporting a significant increase in approaches by migrant women. Staff managed complex casework and provided higher levels of wraparound support and intersectional advocacy, supporting women to navigate support structures and hold agencies to account where they were institutionally discriminatory and harming.
The service that was the most challenging for organisations to reshape was therapeutic support. Women were living with a heightened fear for their own and their children’s wellbeing. Being confined in a refuge or their own room for long periods of quarantine in many ways replicated the patterns of abuse they had experienced, and negatively impacted their mental wellbeing. Staff responded creatively, but had to navigate the difficulties of doing in-depth and confidential therapeutic work in women’s own homes and without the aid of non-verbal cues. Remote working could not replace the nuance and quality of the face-to-face therapeutic relationship.
Delivering trauma-informed care from home was a significant undertaking for Black and minoritised staff balancing their own challenges of childcare, poverty, health, caring and household demands. It undoubtedly took an emotional and physical toll on a workforce which, similar to those it supports, is also disproportionately impacted by systemic inequality. Yet the government failed to recognise this sector as essential key workers despite conducting life-saving work. Organisations developed multiple strategies to support staff in the absence of sufficient resources, through regular online support sessions to more flexible working hours.
Organisations demonstrated great agility, and the situation exposed the highly complex and sensitive nature of intersectional violence against women and girls (VAWG) work. While the circumstances created digital innovation, survivors continue to value the sense of connection and support that can only be delivered through face-to-face support.
It is clear that the pandemic had varying impacts and consequences for Black and minoritised survivors and the organisations that support them – their voices must be at the centre of VAWG policy and planning at all times.
Sumanta Roy is the head of research and development at Imkaan, a national by and for umbrella body dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls.
Ravi Thiara is Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick. She has conducted research national and international on violence against women and children for almost 30 years; she has a particular interest in issues of marginality and violence.
‘The disparity is evident’: COVID-19, violence against women and support for Black and minoritised survivors by Ravi K. Thiara and Sumanta Roy from the Journal of Gender-Based Violence is available on Bristol University Press Digital.
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