Gender violence in times of pandemic

Germán Darío Herrera Saray^[1]

COVID-19 secured its place in human history and will occupy a significant spot in our memories because, in a short time, it changed the ways men and women relate to one another. Today, we think of the use and abuse of social distancing not as a matter of class, but as an option to prevent contagion and thus protect ourselves from the disease entering our bodies and developing. Otherwise, we would have to resort to a precarious healthcare system, which is inherently violent in its care due to the impoverished conditions resulting from its commodification—a clear example of the perverse consequences of neoliberalism in our lives. We have transformed the right to health into a business for private individuals who profit from human pain and suffering.

Latin America and the Caribbean are no strangers to this reality. We are markedly unequal, exclusionary, poor, and violent territories, where the weak institutional infrastructure would collapse if the disease were to begin growing exponentially, as is currently happening in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Faced with this fear, governments decided to decree lockdowns, isolations, and curfews as a measure to avoid contact and reduce the “risk”—mandates that are unwelcome to the owners of the means of production, who see their fortunes threatened by halting, even for a few days, the exploitation of the labor of women and men formally employed in the labor market. These workers, in reality, represent a minority compared to those who live hand to mouth, hustling, and relying on informal work for their individual and family subsistence. But, without a doubt, those suffering the greatest violations are women, who have been rendered invisible and subjected to violence by these neo-patriarchal and right-wing governments that are confronting this crisis.

In the case of my country, Colombia, the situation is truly tragic. Here is a brief overview: approximately 14.400 women have had to live 24 hours a day with their abuser during this period of isolation—that is, with the person who has physically and sexually assaulted them or, in the worst cases, with the person who has attempted to murder them or has already murdered them. According to Ana Güezmes, UN Women Representative in Colombia, in an interview with El País of Spain (April 07, 2020), between March 20 and April 4, 12 women were murdered, representing 32% of the femicides that have occurred in the country this year. This demonstrates that the least safe place for a significant number of women is their own home, and that now more than ever, institutions must be urged to act effectively to prevent these numbers of women's deaths from continuing to rise, because otherwise, the pandemic in our country will not be the coronavirus, but gender-based violence.

I conclude by asking my colleagues in the GT: What is the reality of gender violence in your territories during the pandemic?

^[1] Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences. University of Caldas. Colombia. Working Group on Anti-Patriarchal Struggles, Families, Gender, Diversity and Citizenship