Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 3.9 billion people around the world have been forced to stay at home, and this has had a clear side effect: an increase in domestic violence. In some countries, the number of abused women seeking help has doubled, and medical workers and police officers are having problems keeping up with the increase.
Since the government raised the COVID-19 alert to level 3 in May, emotional and other daily pressures have surged, causing high stress at home. Ministry of Health and Welfare data show that reports of domestic violence rose by 15 percent compared with the same period last year. The repeated extension of the level 3 alert makes the situation even more difficult for people exposed to domestic violence.
All schools and childcare centers have been closed, while community care centers have suspended services as well. Based on traditional labor distribution by gender, the task of taking care of children and families mostly falls on women, who are trapped between family duties and their jobs.
Without support, it is difficult for many working women to catch their breath while they worry about losing their jobs, as various unfavorable factors interact to cause intense family conflicts. Also, abused women must often spend all day at home in small spaces with their partners, and are exposed to a high-risk, tightly controlled environment. That makes it more difficult for them to contact the outside world or use the phone to call social workers.
Although local shelters for abused women have continued to operate, the number of beds have been reduced due to social distancing. In Taipei shelters, abused women must pay for a COVID-19 test, and can only check in if they present a negative test issued within the past three days. This can deter poor and underprivileged women from escaping their situation at home, while forcing working women to choose between safety and economic needs.
Faced with this increase in domestic violence, it is difficult for conventional hotline services to provide assistance to abused women, making it even more difficult to protect their mental and physical safety. As a solution, the Modern Women’s Foundation suggests that the Ministry of Health and Welfare follow the guidelines of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, to develop diverse resources and take preventive action against domestic violence.
First, the government should increase communication channels — such as e-mail, text messaging, social media or other online counseling tools — to assist those being abused and provide prompt support services.
Second, since women are mostly responsible for grocery shopping for their families, the government could establish emergency relief or counseling stations at drugstores or supermarkets, so victims can conveniently seek help without being spotted by their partners.
Third, the government should develop diverse types of shelters, such as quarantine hotels and friendly homestays, to meet victims’ needs for safe refuge.
Moreover, it could increase budgets for tackling domestic violence, offering greater resources for victims and the authorities in charge, pushing for flexible responsive measures and proposing relief packages that fulfill the needs of the disadvantaged.
Finally, law enforcement should adopt a zero-tolerance attitude toward domestic violence, and implement existing laws to protect victims and bring offenders to justice. There should be no “window period” in Taiwan’s domestic violence prevention.
Chen Tzu-hua is a researcher at the Modern Women’s Foundation.Translated by Eddy Chang
During the long Lunar New Year’s holiday, Taiwan has shown several positive developments in different aspects of society, hinting at a hopeful outlook for the Year of the Horse, but there are also significant challenges that the country must cautiously navigate with strength, wisdom and resilience. Before the holiday break, Taiwan’s stock market closed at a record 10,080.3 points and the TAIEX wrapped up at a record-high 33,605.71 points, while Taipei and Washington formally signed the Taiwan-US Agreement on Reciprocal Trade that caps US tariffs on Taiwanese goods at 15 percent and secures Taiwan preferential tariff treatment. President William Lai (賴清德) in
As red lanterns adorn street corners and social media feeds teem with zodiac divinations, the Year of the Horse has arrived. In our hyper-accelerated age, the horse is almost exclusively synonymous with the idiom ma dao cheng gong (馬到成功) — “instant success upon arrival.” It is a linguistic shot of adrenaline, fueling the thrilling illusion that once the bell tolls, our lives would screech off into a cloud of dust, leaving all troubles behind. Yet, when examining the millennia-long partnership between humans and this magnificent “biological machine,” a different truth emerges. The true essence of the horse is not merely speed;
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) earlier this month led a delegation to Beijing to attend a think tank forum between the KMT and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After returning to Taiwan, Hsiao spoke at length about “accumulating mutual trust” and letting matters “fall into place,” portraying the forum as a series of discussions focused on cooperation in tourism, renewable energy, disaster prevention, emerging industries, health and medicine, and artificial intelligence (AI). However, when the entire dialogue presupposes the so-called “1992 consensus — the idea that there is only “one China,” with each side of the Taiwan
India is getting richer every year, but its cities do not seem to be getting any more livable. Not because the country is too poor, or because leaders lack ambition, but because urban citizens are starved of funds and deprived of representation — and the government is in no hurry to fix it, even though people are dying as a result. Mumbai’s skyline is dotted with opulent glass towers, and it calls itself India’s commercial capital. The civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp, is the country’s richest. Yet, residents have lived for years with no say in how their city was
RSS