The other pandemic

Increase in domestic violence due to COVID-19 in Mexico

When the COVID-19 epidemic reached Mexico in March 2020, the increased levels of stress, economic and food insecurity and isolation were quickly felt.
The latter resulted in an exponential increase in domestic violence in Mexico and particularly in the state of Mexico City (already known for its high rates of gender violence). The report was made at the very beginning of the pandemic, when the majority of organizations began to close their doors as a preventive measure, even though the situation required immediate action to protect women and children at risk. In fact, according to the Red Nacional de Refugios, calls to shelters reporting domestic violence had already increased by 60-80% in the first months of the health crisis and by 30% for asylum applications in these spaces. The Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City reported to the Ministry of the Interior a 120% increase in domestic violence since the declaration of the state of emergency of the Coronavirus. In spite of this, the facts have remained underestimated by the government, which considers them as a low priority, pushing the vice to the point of canceling many subsidies destined to associations fighting gender violence.
Thus, many organizations and associations had no choice but to act on their own to respond to this health crisis and support these women. Social workers, activists, lawyers, psychologists... are numerous to have mobilized to face this emergency situation. By following the daily life of shelters for battered women, psychological support for women victims of violence and aggressors as well as the interventions of the gender police, this report offers a look at the second pandemic that has hit Mexico: violence against women.