The study shows that the highest rate of calls to 016 of the period studied was recorded during the second quarter of 2020: 12.19 calls per 10,000 women aged 15 years or more.

A research led by the University of Alicante (UA), together with the National School of Health of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) and the CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), has analysed the temporal and geographical distribution of different indicators related to gender violence before, during and after the declaration of the state of alarm due to COVID-19 in Spain. The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, analyses the evolution women murdered as a result of gender violence, calls to 016, police reports and protection orders.

The work, co-authored by UA Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health Carmen Vives-Cases, and Spanish National School of Health senior researcher Belén Sanz Barbero (and three other researchers), shows how during the second quarter of 2020 the highest rate of calls to 016 of the period studied was recorded (12.19 calls per 10,000 women aged 15 years or more). Police reports (16.62 per 10,000 women), protection orders (2.81 per 10,000) and murders (0.19 per 1 million) decreased in that quarter. In the third quarter of the year, the trend was reversed, with a decrease of calls to 016 and an increase in the other indicators.

The research included a cluster analysis that grouped Spanish provinces into four typologies, according to the simultaneous behaviour observed in the quarterly rates of 016 calls and protection orders. Clusters of provinces were identified where both indicators increase, and clusters where both decrease. This variability was related to the province’s unemployment rate. The highest male unemployment rate appears in the province’s clusters with the greatest increase in both calls and protection orders. In addition, these were also the only clusters where there were fatalities during the pandemic.  

Help-seeking behaviour

The findings indicate that lockdowns and social constraints related to pandemic control may have changed the help-seeking behaviour of women exposed to gender-based violence. The differences observed between times with and without pandemic influence suggest that there were regions where there were physical barriers to accessing face-to-face gender-based violence services during the lockdowns, indicating the need to strengthen non-face-to-face support services.

The variability found and its association with contextual factors, such as male unemployment, must be taken into account in order to provide an adequate response to gender-based violence in crisis situations such as the one experienced with COVID-19 in Spain, the authors recommend.

Reference:

Vives-Cases, C.; Parra-Casado, D.L.; Estévez, J.F.; Torrubiano-Domínguez, J.; Sanz-Barbero, B. Intimate Partner Violence against Women during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021, 18, 4698. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094698.