Violence against women

When the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, another crisis quietly grew behind closed doors.

This issue of Southasiadisasters.net examines how disasters, displacement, extreme heat, migration, water scarcity, recovery processes, and climate adaptation can intensify violence against women and girls when protection systems are weak or absent.

Cold snaps increase domestic violence in the Peruvian Highlands by reducing agricultural income. Policies that improve households’ resilience to agricultural income losses can help mitigate this effect.

The PreventionWeb editors have collected a selection of articles and research findings that show how disasters worsen violence against women, and some ways we can take action to prevent this spiral of violence and inequality.

Extreme weather events linked to climate change are fuelling violence against women long after they occur, say researchers, prompting calls for more gender-focused climate action.

This study found that climate shocks, such as storms and floods, are linked to higher rates of intimate partner violence against women in affected countries. Researchers urge integrating violence prevention in climate resilience strategies.

UNFPA, in collaboration with the IIASA and the University of Vienna, conducted a comprehensive analysis and projections of climate change impact on IPV using demographic and health surveys and shared socioeconomic pathways.

Tens of millions of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa will experience catastrophic levels of intimate partner violence because the world is failing to make progress on the climate crisis.

This paper examines how an earthquake in Papua New Guinea changed people’s attitudes about and the prevalence of intimate partner violence.

Rising temperatures have an impact on mental health and human behavior, and evidence has shown that warmer temperatures correlate with a 4% increase in interpersonal violence and a 14% rise in intergroup conflicts globally.