Focus on Domestic Violence

In this fourth round of the Womanity Award we want to find innovative programmes to prevent domestic violence against women and girls.

Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent and systemic human rights violations in the world. Women and girls are subject to different forms of violence from family members across their lives, with widespread experiences of abuse during childhood, adolescence and adulthood (1) . It includes violence perpetrated by a family member, a carer and a current or former intimate partner. There are many manifestations of domestic violence including: physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and economic abuse and controlling behaviours.

Almost 18 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49 who have ever been in a relationship have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in the previous 12 months (2) . That figure rises to 30 per cent when considering violence by a partner experienced during women’s lifetime (3).

The outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis put a magnifying glass on what was already a pandemic. It exacerbated some of the key drivers to domestic violence, such as economic insecurity and physical mobility restrictions due to lockdown. The result was a significant increase of violence against women and girls around the world (4) which is, simply put, a pandemic within a pandemic.

We encourage applications from organisations who have created innovative programmes to prevent VAWG that could be adapted in contexts and communities greatly affected by the pandemic (but please note that this is not an eligibility criteria).

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