Evidence

The risk of violence against women and girls (VAWG) increases during crises (Fraser, 2020; Palermo and Peterman, 2011) and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Disruptions of support services for victims, living under mobility restrictions, increased unemployment rates, and economic insecurity resulting from the pandemic, all create heightened risks, especially if victims are confined at home with perpetrators. with the goal of gathering proxy information on related trends, UN Women partnered with Quilt.AI and UNFPA to conduct analysis of big data in eight countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. The analysis identified trends from discourse data generated across social media platforms and search engines. In particular, big data on people’s search behaviour on VAWG-related topics (both before the onset of the pandemic and since) were considered.

This study was useful in providing proxy information to shed light on whether VAWG increased since the onset of COVID-19. Big data analysis showed that indeed related searches increased substantially in peak periods of mobility restrictions and immediately afterwards. Analysis also shows that some service providers have increased their online activities to better reach victims. However, not all providers are being successful in gaining engagement and directing attention to their services. Further analysis of this data, to be published in a follow-up brief, will examine if differences exist based on geographical location of internet users within countries, and will try to determine whether select population groups are underserved in terms of availability of services compared with increases in demand.