The consequences of government measures in Palestine to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on gender-based violence
The Journal of Adult Protection
ISSN: 1466-8203
Article publication date: 16 November 2022
Issue publication date: 7 December 2022
Abstract
Purpose
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries, including Palestine, implemented lockdown rules. These measures slowed the outbreak of the coronavirus, and because of the poor management of the Palestinian government in dealing with women’s rights in light of the Corona pandemic, they contributed to increasing gender-based violence (GBV).
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the qualitative method. An inductive thematic latent content analysis was applied using the MAXQDA 2020 program throughout the data collection stage. The content analysis in this study focused on interviews made with the survivors. The interview schedule consisted of four questions covering different aspects of knowledge around GBV during COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip. In-depth interviews were conducted in Arabic with 25 survivors who experienced GBV between January 17 and March 13, 2022.
Findings
The results show that the kind of violence the survivors were most subjected to is psychological violence, followed by economic violence, and the least kind of violence that the survivors were subjected to was sexual violence. The study revealed the good practices for preventing and combating violence against Palestinian women and girls due to government measures to reduce COVID-19 from the perspective of survivors.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitations of this study was the small number of cases coming to the Aisha Association for support. Because of the temporary suspension of psychological and social support projects from the foundation due to a problem related to funding, some survivors also fear that their husbands will discover that they have participated in the study, so they hesitate to agree to an interview. Survivors’ lack of understanding of the study question related to implications of closing social justice institutions due to COVID-19 on GBV? This led to conflicting answers.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study in Palestine that dealt Consequences of Government Measures in Palestine to Mitigate COVID-19 on GBV, and its results will be important for the protection of survivors and the adoption of government policies in Palestine.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to extend their gratitude to all the ladies in the AISHA Association who expressed an interest in participating in the study.
Declaration of competing interest: The authors affirm that they have no known financial or interpersonal conflicts that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper; they also certify that the paper has not already been published, is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and will not be published elsewhere if accepted.
Funding: This study received no support from any government, corporate or nonprofit research organization.
Citation
Al-Rantisi, A.M. and Faraj, O.U. (2022), "The consequences of government measures in Palestine to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on gender-based violence", The Journal of Adult Protection, Vol. 24 No. 5/6, pp. 215-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-07-2022-0014
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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