The Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, drew the Member States’ attention to growing gender inequalities observed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, 26 March, she invited them to implement a series of measures to deal with this phenomenon.
Mrs Dalli urged European States to carry out awareness-raising campaigns on the risk of an increase in domestic violence and on the support services available to victims at this time of health crisis.
She also called for guaranteed access to medical, psychological, and social care for all women, and for emergency funds to be made available to associations and organisations caring for victims of violence.
Such periods of social isolation increase the risk of domestic violence, notes the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in an article entitled ‘Coronavirus puts women on the frontline’, published on 25 March.
“Women in violent relationships are stuck at home and exposed to their abuser for longer periods of time. This makes it very difficult for them to call helplines as the perpetrator is always around”, the article states.
In a letter sent on Thursday 19 March to several European leaders, including Helena Dalli, alerting them to these risks (see EUROPE 12451/17), the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament also noted that in China, “reported cases of domestic violence have almost doubled since cities were placed under lockdown”.
Social insecurity. The EIGE also indicates that the closure or near closure of many businesses could have serious repercussions on many female-dominated professions. “A quarter of women employees across the EU are in a precarious job”, the institute also points out.
The Equality Commissioner has therefore advocated the implementation of short- and long-term policies to protect jobs and incomes.
On the same day that Mrs Dalli unveiled her recommendations, Irène Tolleret (France), coordinator of the Renew Europe group in Parliament’s Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), sent a letter to the Commissioner, as well as to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, on behalf of MEPs from the group.
In particular, the MEPs call on “the Commission and the EU Council to urgently share best practices between Member States in order to help countries adopt preventive and responsive measures to protect women and children in danger”.
The letter details several measures to support at-risk women that have been put in place in States that are severely affected by the pandemic. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)