COVID-19 AND THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE: CHALLENGES IN CONFRONTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Abstract

The topic to be addressed in this article focuses on the COVID-19 Pandemic, which impacted the world from 2020 onwards, brought with it not only a public health crisis, but also exacerbated and revealed a shadow of violence in several of its forms. Social isolation measures, economic uncertainties, and psychological stress have created a fertile scenario for the increase and intensification of conflicts and abuses. One of the most evident impacts was the increase in domestic and intrafamily violence. With people confined to their homes, victims were more exposed to their abusers, and access to support networks and reporting services was hampered. Reports from various organizations and governments around the world indicated a significant increase in cases of violence against women, children and the elderly during the lockdown period. The method used is based on a bibliographic, qualitative and descriptive research, aiming to understand how public policies for the protection of women are and how they are being restructured to ensure that these women, victims of violence, have their rights protected and how society in the middle of the twentieth century. can contribute to changing this reality, which today is so unequal in relation to women. We thus discuss the importance of the Maria da Penha Law in this process, and how it has been helping to combat this violence.