The pandemic paradox: domestic violence and happiness of women

Abstract

Background Across the globe, lockdowns have been enforced as a pandemic response to COVID-19. Such lockdown coupled with school closures and stay-at-home orders made women more vulnerable in terms of higher responsibility and spending more time with an abusive partner, if any. Methods This study investigates the situation of women during COVID-19 induced lockdown by focusing on their happiness and inquiring about the incidence of violence. Using the zero-inflated negative binomial model, our findings ascertained that family settings, type of relationship with a spouse, and age significantly affects the positive count of violence during the lockdown. We further estimated the determinants of happiness and found that years of schooling, the role of women in household decision making, and feeling empowered is affecting their happiness. Results Women having higher education have more odds of zero violence. Unemployed women and women who are not working have higher odds of zero violence as compared to women who are working. During this lockdown after the COVID-19 pandemic, women living in urban areas, having higher education, having an adequate household income to meet the expenditures, having lesser anxiety, not facing violence, feeling empowered when their husband is around, and have higher decision-making power are happier. Discussion and conclusion The study is important in the context of happiness and violence inflicted on women during the lockdown and provides the basis to improve the pandemic response policy. The inclusion of women’s safety and happiness in pandemic response policy is important to ensure the well-being of women and to devise better health and economic policy. Our estimates suggest higher education results in less incidence of violence which could be argued as desirable outcomes for building healthy, productive, and happy communities. In addition to this, as pandemic induced lock-down is likely to result in higher unemployment across the globe including Pakistan, therefore, in light of our estimates pertaining to the role of unemployment in the incidence of violence, policymakers should deploy more resources to enhance income and to combat the rising unemployment. As a counter-intuitive outcome of these policy interventions, incidence of violence will be dampened, educational attainment and women empowerment will be increased which will certainly increase happiness.

Violência contra a mulher por parceiro íntimo na pandemia de COVID-19: magnitude e fatores associados

“…Com relação a ocorrência de IPV durante a pandemia de COVID-19, observou-se que todos os estudos evidenciaram situações abusivas perpetradas pelo parceiro íntimo (Aolymat, 2021;Fawole et al, 2021;Gebrewahd et al, 2020;Gosangi et al, 2021;Haq, Raza & Mahmood, 2020;Krishnamurti et al, 2021;Mahmood et al, 2021;Naghizadeh, Mirghafourvand, Mohammadirad, 2021;Pattojoshi et al, 2021;Sabri et al, 2020). As taxas de IPV durante o período pandêmico variaram entre 18,1% na Índia (Pattojoshi et al, 2021) até 38,7% no Iraque (Mahmood et al, 2021).…”

“…As taxas de IPV durante o período pandêmico variaram entre 18,1% na Índia (Pattojoshi et al, 2021) até 38,7% no Iraque (Mahmood et al, 2021). No Irã (Naghizadeh et al, 2021) e no Paquistão (Haq et al, 2020) as pesquisas demonstraram uma prevalência de aproximadamente 35%, enquanto na Etiópia os casos de violência por parceiro íntimo representaram 24,6% (Gebrewahd et al, 2020) (Quadro 1).…”

COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: An Analysis of the Healthcare, Socio-Economic Challenges in Pakistan

“…Professional women spend additional time doing household responsibilities with their regular professions, as several productions and administrations have shifted their work at home level. Reports from various countries show that the increase in domestic violence is alarming (Haq et al, 2020).…”

COVID-19: One pandemic shading another

“…Although both men and women are equally exposed to information and guidelines on such measures, women might be more prone to fully comply with them [19,20]. A study performed in Spain reported that women scored higher on perceived vulnerability than men [21], hence, exposing themselves less to transmission risks and more frequently following COVID-19 preventive protocols [22,23]. This common behavior after a disease threat may be ingrained in mental processes common to women, such as those described by the fi eld of developmental psychology [24].…”