Domestic violence escalates faster in quarantine

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

Beatings, rape, threats: more than three percent of women in Germany were victims of physical and emotional violence during the period of strict contact restrictions at home. Those who were in quarantine or had financial problems were particularly at risk. It hit the children even more often.

During the exit and contact restrictions to combat the corona pandemic, concern grew that women and children could suffer more from domestic violence. But since not all victims file a complaint or take advantage of offers of help, the actual dimension remained in the dark. A current study now provides the first representative figures.

Physical violence

Janina Steinert, Professor of Global Health at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and Dr. Cara Ebert from the RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research interviewed around 3800 women.

3.1 percent of them experienced at least one physical confrontation, such as being beaten, at home. 3.6 percent were forced to have sexual intercourse by their partner.

Children were physically punished in 6.5 percent of households. It remained unclear whether the violence in this case came from the woman or the man.

If those involved had to stay in quarantine or if the families had financial worries, the numbers were significantly higher. Only a very small proportion of the women affected took advantage of offers of help.

Emotional violence

3.8 percent of the women surveyed felt threatened by their partner. 2.2 percent smell not leaving their house without his permission. In 4.6 percent of cases, the partner regulated the women's contact with other people. This also includes digital contacts, for example via messenger services.

Comparing it to pre-pandemic numbers is difficult

A comparison of these numbers with data from the time before the pandemic would not be meaningful, as previous studies have asked about experiences of violence over longer periods of time, but not after a period of a few weeks.

Risk factor financial worries

The number of victims was higher for both women and children, though

• the respondents were in quarantine at home (physical violence against women: 7.5%, physical violence against children: 10.5%).
• the family had acute financial worries (physical violence against women: 8.4%, physical violence against children: 9.8%).
• one of the partners was on short-time work due to the pandemic or had lost his job (physical violence against women: 5.6%, physical violence against children: 9.3%).
• one of the partners had anxiety or depression (physical violence against women: 9.7%, physical violence against children: 14.3%).
• they lived in households with children under 10 years of age (physical violence against women: 6.3%, physical violence against children: 9.2%).

From these risk factors, the scientists derive several recommendations for existing and possible future exit and contact restrictions during a possible "second wave" of the pandemic: "Emergency care should be created for children that are not only available to parents in systemically important professions," says Janina Steinert.

“Since depression and anxiety increase the potential for violence, psychological counseling and therapies should also be offered online and used without any obstacles. Women's shelters and other agencies that offer help must remain systemically relevant. "

Offers of help

The scientists also asked whether the women concerned knew about and had used offers of help. Although 48.2 percent of those questioned were familiar with the telephone counseling service (number: 0800/111 0 111), only 3.9 percent called. The situation is similar with the "Violence against women" helpline (phone number: 08000 116 016): Almost a third of those surveyed know the hotline, only 2.7 percent used it. More than a fifth sought help from the parents' telephone (phone number: 0800 111 0550).

The “Codeword Mask 19” campaign is also intended to protect women and children from domestic violence: if a customer uses this code word in a pharmacy, the pharmacy notifies the authorities. 1.8 percent of the women surveyed had used this opportunity.

Women between 18 and 65 years of age

As part of the study, around 3,800 women between 18 and 65 years of age were asked about their experiences online. The study is representative of Germany in terms of age, level of education, income, household size and place of residence. The women were asked between April 22 and May 8, 2020 about the previous month, i.e. the time of the strictest contact restrictions.

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