The pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19 across the globe has impacted almost all spheres of people’s lives and brought multiple negative consequences. Along with major economic, social, and health care challenges, households and individuals faced additional issues associated with the lockdown and other pandemic restrictions, such as mental health issues caused by isolation, the deaths of relatives and friends, health concerns and deteriorated living conditions. However, another crucial problem that becomes more disturbing during the pandemic is increased domestic violence against women. Although there are multiple reasons that determine this tendency, however, unemployment may be regarded as a considerable one. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effect of unemployment due to pandemic restrictions on domestic violence against women in Melbourne.
Quantitative Question: To what extent does unemployment due to pandemic restrictions impact domestic violence against women in Melbourne?
Case
Domestic violence against women is among the most essential issues that should be addressed in the present day as it substantially contributes to women’s subjection, poor health, homicide and inequality. The necessity of the research is supported by “the growing body of evidence that pandemic conditions are affecting the severity and prevalence of domestic violence in Australia, regardless of whether or not these increases are reflected in reporting rates” (Carrington et al., 2020, p. 8). Thus, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology, more than 15,000 women who participated in its study reported either the occurrence or the escalation of domestic violence during the first months of the pandemic (Carrington et al., 2020). At the same time, in the first half of 2020, unemployment and underemployment rates in Australia increased by 1.8% and 4.3%, respectively (Statista Research Department, 2022). In addition, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), full-time male workers aged 20-34 years old were affected more than women in relation to job loss (GilFillan, 2020). Thus, it is possible to introduce the hypothesis that unemployment and related financial struggles determined by pandemic restrictions lead to increased rates of domestic violence against women in Melbourne.
Methods
In order to approve or reject the hypothesis and identify the impact in numerical terms, the quantitative descriptive approach will be used. For it, approximately 3,000 women will be chosen on the basis of their experience of domestic violence during the pandemic through the first online questionnaire. In addition, they will be chosen on the basis of demographic indicators that will help to define their suitability for the study (Halliwell et al., 2019). All participants should be married or cohabit with a partner in Melbourne; their age and ethnicity are not significant, however, Indigenous women may constitute 10-15% of the sampling to provide diversity. For the second questionnaire, the indicators of the types (sexual abuse/physical abuse/emotional abuse) and determinants (unemployment/previous or new mental health issues/deteriorated living conditions/ isolation) of violence will be used (Abu-Elenin et al., 2019). While the determinants will allow measuring the impact of unemployment on domestic violence, the indicators of its type will provide a more complete picture.
References
Abu-Elenin, M. M., Elshora, A. A., Sadaka, M. S., & Abdeldaim, D. E. (2022). Domestic violence against married women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt. BMC Women’s Health, 22(1), 1-10.
Carrington et al., 2020 Kerry Carrington, K., Morley, C., Warren, S., Harris, B., Vitis, L., Ball, M., Clarke, J., & Ryan, V. (2020) Impact of COVID on domestic and family violence. Workforce and clients: Research report. QUT Centre for Justice, QUT, Brisbane, Australia.
GilFillan, G. (2020). COVID-19: Labour market impacts on key demographic groups, industries and regions. Parliament of Australia. Web.
Halliwell, G., Dheensa, S., Fenu, E., Jones, S. K., Asato, J., Jacob, S., & Feder, G. (2019). Cry for health: A quantitative evaluation of a hospital-based advocacy intervention for domestic violence and abuse. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 1-12.
Statista Research Department. (2022). Change in unemployment rates during COVID-19 in Australia in selected period between March 2020 and October 2020. Statista. Web.