Violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic: from children to the elderly

Women of all ages can be exposed to violence both within and outside of the home,
especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to analyze
violence against women (VAW) before and during the first year of the pandemic in Portugal. Crimes
perpetrated against female victims from 17 years old and younger to 65 years old and older were
analyzed by comparing requests for help in 2019 and 2020. A total of 12,045 requests for help for
VAW were received by the Portuguese Association for Victim Support and analyzed in the current
study. The findings reveal a 16% increase in requests for help in 2020 and a 95% increase when the
lockdown was implemented. That said, the most reported, intimate partner violence (IPV), showed
a decrease of 5% in 2020. Furthermore, compared to 2019, requests for help concerning criminal
offenses involving psychological violence in non-IPV contexts increased 79% in 2020, especially for
victims 17 years old or younger (116%), and attempted femicide/femicide requests for help increased
53%. We are still in the early stages of understanding how the pandemic will affect this situation.
Future directions concerning support of female victims during the pandemic are outlined.
This work is financed by national funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the project UIDB/04585/2020. This study was also conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation
for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (Ref.: UIDB/PSI/01662/2020)
and at the Department of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of University of Coimbra,
CINEICC—Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (Ref.:
2020.07799.BD).