This literature review examines how the nature of domestic violence towards women changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies found that domestic violence complaints increased by 47.2% in India during the pandemic. Theories such as intimate terrorism help explain the rise in physical, emotional, and sexual abuse observed. Home containment during lockdowns provided opportunities for male family members to exert power and control over women. Social and economic factors such as unemployment, alcoholism, women's lower social status and lack of support services increased women's vulnerability and the motivation and ability of offenders to commit acts of domestic violence.

1. RIMPA PAL

2.  Purpose of this literature review is to know how the nature of
domestic violence towards women changed after the pandemic
 Changes in prevalence of domestic violence
 Underlying reasons behind domestic violence through a feminist
lens

3.  Maji, Bansod, and Singh
(2021) stated that DV complaints increased by 47.2 % in India during the
pandemic.
 A large number of intimate partner violence (IPV) took place.
 WHO defines intimate partner violence as ‘a physical, sexual, or
psychological coercive act by a current or former partner or spouse to a
woman’
 Physical, emotional and sexual abuse were observed.
 There is a significant rise in DV severity as well.

4.  Johnson and Leone (2005) defined Intimate
terrorism/Patriarchal Terrorism as the use of male power as a
resource to cause violence over women.
 DV increased largely in early days of pandemic.
 Home containment was a reason behind rising DV as it
provided male members with more opportunities to exert power.

5.  Feminist interpretation
stresses on the societal
condition that allow violence
on women- Proposed by
Schwartz & Pitts (1995)
 Felson and Cohen (1980)
identified four components
that assess the suitability of
a target—value, inertia,
visibility, and access.
Motivated
Offender
Absence
of
Capable
Guardians
Suitable
Target
D
V

6.  Krishnakumar & Verma
(2021) identified that alcoholism and unemployment impacted
motivation of offenders.
 Lower social status and difficulty of women to access social
services made them an easy target.
 The lack of adequate police force and legal support caused the
absence of capable guardian.

7.  Marginalized groups including women are disproportionately
isolated (Wesley, Jenningsc, Kaukinene, Felicia 2021).
 Outbreak of pandemic caused differentiated impact on women
by increasing their care needs and limiting economic
independence (Wenham, Smith, Morgan, 2020).
 Vora, Das, and Chatterjee
(2020) said that unemployment during reduced control of men
over women. So, they used violence to gain control.

8.  There is a power imbalance in Indian society due to its
patriarchal nature.
 Social status if women worsened during the pandemic.
 It increased their vulnerability to domestic violence.

9.  Maji, S., Bansod, S., & Singh, T. (2021). Domestic violence during COVID‐19
pandemic: The case for Indian women. Journal of Community & Applied Social
Psychology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8014493/
 Krishnakumar, A., & Verma, S. (2021). Understanding domestic violence in
india during CoViD-19: a routine activity approach. Asian journal of
criminology, 16(1), 19-35.
 Piquero, A. R., Jennings, W. G., Jemison, E., Kaukinen, C., & Knaul, F. M.
(2021). Domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic-Evidence from a
systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of criminal justice, 74(C).
 Wenham, C., Smith, J., & Morgan, R. (2020). COVID-19: the gendered impacts
of the outbreak. The lancet, 395(10227), 846-848.
 Malathesh, B. C., Das, S., & Chatterjee, S. S. (2020). COVID-19 and domestic
violence against women. Asian journal of psychiatry, 53, 102227.
 Schwartz, M. D., & Pitts, V. L. (1995). Exploring a feminist routine activities
approach to explaining sexual assault. Justice Quarterly, 12(1), 9–31.
 Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A
routine activity approach. American sociological review, 588-608.