Response to Gender Based Violence During Pandemics; A Lesson from Covid-19 Outbreak in Mbarara City South Constituency, Uganda

Abstract

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, gender-based violence (GBV) was reported to have increased worldwide. An escalation in intimate partner violence was experienced more during the Covid-19 than in other pandemics. This study was carried out in Mbarara City South Division to assess the response and adaptation strategies that were employed to manage gender-based violence during the Covid-19 outbreak in Uganda. Data was collected from technical personnel whose jurisdiction put them in positionto interact with the victims of GBV during and after the covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Secondary data was collected from policy reports of the relevant line ministries and departments. The results show that the forms of GBV experienced during Covid-19 in Uganda included sexual, physical, emotional and psychological violence. The most vulnerable were women and girls though a few men also became victims. Causes of GBV during Covid-19 pandemic rotated around failure to provide for the family due to collapse of businesses and loss of jobs, nagging by spouses due to monotony and boredom, infidelity suspicions others. The measures adopted to respond to GBV during the covid-19 pandemic included involving family members to arbitrate, sleeping outside homes, use of phones to report and seek redress, fighting back, employing the withdrawal strategy, among others. The study concludes that Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenge of GBV because measures imposed to manage the pandemic such as the lockdown made it difficult for the victims to seek redress for justice or run away from the perpetrators. The study recommends that policy measures be put in place to economically and socially prepare people with life skills to cope with the stressors and shocks that are associated with pandemic outbreaks.