Prior to the current COVID-19 pandemic, gender-based violence had already reached pandemic proportions across the globe. An estimated 1 in 3 women and girls will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes.
However, these numbers tell only a part of the story. Gender-based violence (GBV) is both a consequence and a result of gender inequality that cuts across boundaries of age, education, geography, and socio-cultural status.
Pandemics like COVID-19 expose and exacerbate existing inequalities putting women, girls, and people of diverse gender identities at increased risk of violence.