Hyderabad (Telangana): Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March of last year, UNFPA and other advocates flagged that a “shadow pandemic” of domestic and gender-based violence was rapidly taking hold, with financial burdens increasing tensions in the home and women increasingly isolated with abusers under lockdowns and other movement restrictions. Although hotlines, shelter operators and others reported a deluge of requests for support, clear data on the actual incidence of violence has remained elusive.
This new analysis – released by UN Women, UNFPA and the analytics company Quilt. AI is used to shed light on just how pervasively women fear for their safety and also reflects how governments and service providers have struggled to respond optimally.
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Signs of desperation rising
The study looked at internet search data along with online content via social media platforms in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The analysis spanned periods from September 2019 to November 2020 and covered about 20.5 million unique searches, 3,500 keywords on violence against women and 2,000 posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and ShareChat.
Searches related to violence – including keywords such as “physical abuse signs”, “violent relationship”, and “cover bruises on face” – increased 47 per cent in Malaysia, 63 per cent in the Philippines and 55 per cent in Nepal between October 2019, before the pandemic, and September 2020, some eight months into the crisis. Queries on “violent husband” or “violent partner” comprised the bulk of searches related to violence against women in seven of the eight countries.
Sexual abuse searches have also been increasing. At the same time, online misogyny, such as trolling, sexual harassment and victim-blaming, also rose.
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Need for safety, justice, care
The study also looked at social media and found widespread frustration with government responses to violence against women, as well as broad distrust in justice institutions.
Better efforts are clearly needed to reach survivors and provide services across the health, justice and social sectors.
In Bangladesh, one survivor – whose story was chronicled independently of the big data analysis – recounted to UNFPA the range of support she needed in the aftermath of abuse. Unlike many survivors, she was able to receive the help she needed.
Still, many women struggle to patch together support, the study finds. Searches with help-seeking keywords, such as “domestic violence hotline”, increased in almost all of the countries analysed – including a 70 per cent rise in Malaysia.
At the same time, however, online support for survivors also increased, including online support groups, the sharing of personal stories, advocacy campaigns and calls for justice.
“The study clearly shows the crucial role digital platforms can play in helping address violence against women,” said Bjorn Andersson, UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Director.
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KEY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES
General frustration towards lack of government action: Conversations on social media depict widespread frustration with the weak stance that most governments took to address VAWG in the context of COVID-19. Roughly 20 percent of the posts analysed showed frustration in this regard.
Low trust in national security and justice institutions: In most countries, users of social media agreed with the idea that using informal justice/parallel settlements in cases of VAWG was a better option than trying to take the legal route.
Victim shaming: Across all social media platforms there was discourse around condemning victim-shaming and often instances of such shaming itself
Rise in domestic violence during COVID-19: In all countries, the number of related searches increased during peak times of mobility restrictions.
The issue of marginalized groups is largely missing: The conversation around violence against individuals of the LGBTQI+ community was largely missing online. There was limited conversation around caste-based VAWG, and usually seen in response to a particular case of violence
Rise in online support: There has been a rise in online support for victims of VAWG, especially via online campaigns, sharing personal stories, and creating support groups.
Sex distribution of users engaged with online campaigns, advocacy for justice, support groups or other support messaging, September 2019 to November 2020.
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| Country | Male | Female | Urban/Rural |
| Malaysia | 30.00% | 70.00% | Urban concentration |
| Nepal | 45.00% | 55.00% | Urban concentration |
| Thailand | 23.00% | 65.00% | Urban concentration |
| Singapore | 35.00% | 65.00% | Urban concentration |
| Bangladesh | 35.00% | 65.00% | Urban concentration |
| Philippines | 30.00% | 70.00% | Urban concentration |
| Indonesia | 15.00% | 85.00% | Urban concentration |
| India | 25.00%% | 75.00% | Urban concentration |
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Key Differences Between Countries
Different VAWG issues spark the most outrage: For example, in Nepal and India acid attacks and caste-based VAWG garnered substantial attention while in the Philippines misogynistic comments by high-level government officials were a concern.
Local support services do not always come up in searches: Top search-engine results (when searching for services) vary by country. In some countries, top search results lead to relevant local services and information, while in others, the top results are foreign.
Response to migrant workers changes in each country: Migrant workers are facing similar challenges across the countries considered, but government and public responses are different. In some places such as Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia and Singapore, migrant workers have had more visibility during the pandemic, while in other countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, people show less concern in online discourse.
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In connection with the increased use of online tools, it is important to provide digital-literacy skills to disadvantaged populations. The crisis has highlighted the potential of online technologies to both compile and search for information, as well as to seek and provide support, at a time when face-to-face interactions must be limited. In light of this, it will be important to continue leveraging big data and online technologies to gather additional details on internet behaviour, smartphone usage and online help-seeking behaviour among vulnerable groups at a greater scale, during both crisis and non-crisis periods.
Service providers should increase their online engagement across social media platforms, especially in times of crisis. Providing resources upfront on their websites and social media channels, options in various languages, and the ability to filter by location and other domains increases the likelihood of engagement and thus of reaching those in need of services. Targeting online posts to changing needs and prevalent online discourse also help enhance engagement.
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In this research, service organizations targeting migrant populations had a lower online engagement. Besides changing advocacy strategies to achieve higher online engagement, migrant oriented service organizations should first understand internet and smartphone usage among these populations to better target their campaigns
Service providers, including government services, should implement specific steps online to increase their reach among survivors/victims, including adding contact numbers to profile information, and increase search engine optimization to ensure that local and relevant information for survivors/victims is displayed on the first page of search results.
Governments and internet providers should work towards redirecting search-engine results to legitimate information on safe service provision for top searches related to VAWG (as is seen in Singapore, when typing “domestic violence” into google).
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