A year has passed by. The year 2020 has just left us from our lives. Of course the year has been painful, filled with uncertainties, fears and worries.
But,
it’s also a year in which we learnt to love more, to spend responsibly, reduced
carbon footprints, reduced pollution, valued health, realised our
vulnerabilities and learnt to accept what life offers. We adapted well and
called it the “New Normal”. The Covid
-19 made us all realise so many facets of our lives, some did it positively
while others did it negatively.
Yet,
in the case of women, the year 2020 haven’t been so easy. I would like to take your attention to three
main issues that women specifically faced during this year and made the year
2020 a year we should all be ashamed off!
The year 2020 will therefore be known in Feminist literature in these
three ways as well!
1. THE YEAR OF
SHADOW PANDEMIC
It
was a year of Shadow Pandemic.
Shadow
Pandemic stands for increase in the incidents of violence against women
especially within the homes and locality.
As
per the UN Women’s data,
·
Globally, even
before the COVID-19 pandemic began, 1 in 3 women experienced physical or sexual
violence mostly by an intimate partner
·
Emerging data
shows an increase in calls to domestic violence helplines in many countries
since the outbreak of COVID-19.
·
Sexual harassment
and other forms of violence against women continue to occur on streets, in
public spaces and online.
·
Survivors have limited
information and awareness about available services and limited access to
support services.
·
In some
countries, resources and efforts have been diverted from violence against women
response to immediate COVID-19 relief.
Pic Source : UN Women website
2. THE YEAR OF
SHE-CYBER CRIMES
Cyber
Crime incidents just blew out of bounds during this COVID season. The reason
being the extra time spent on the internet and of course, the lack of social
life.
The Cyber cells of Police and various NGOs had
a spike in the number of cases with serious ones from women. And these ranged
from abuse, indecent exposure, unsolicited obscene pictures, and threats,
malicious emails claiming their account was hacked, ransom demands, blackmail
and more.
These are just two sides of issues that women
face. But there is a third face that women faced during this year – the Stress
and Mental battles.
3.
THE YEAR OF HER
– STRESS
The increased home presence of every member at
the family, the work from home, the online schooling and lack of maid support –
all these contributed to higher workloads for the women in the family.
Lack of participation in household chores by
men still remains a complex struggle for women. Working from home actually made
the life of many “working women” more difficult that they decided to quit their
jobs and have more peace. And in the
case of men who faced job loss and business loss, the easy ventilation is on
their wife and children who ends up taking abuse – verbal or physical.
In the case of women with young children, the
stress was on the peak considering the schooling tasks to be completed as a
“parent”.
WHAT
ABOUT YEAR 2021?
Well, we have just begun a new year. As with
every year, we wish for happiness and prosperity for all.
And that includes women.
Here’s me wishing for an amazing year for all!
Cheers
CeeVee
