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MEDIA

Financial, Emotional Abuse Amplify COVID-19 Stress

Jun 1, 2020

by Melissa Perri Cathy Watts Petra Babic

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated incidences of intimate partner violence (IPV), with global reports indicating that rates of IPV have tripled in multiple regions.

IPV specific service agencies in Toronto have seen an increase of more than 50 cases per day. This demand is mirrored in mobile helplines, such as the Assaulted Women’s Helpline, which has reported a quadrupling of daily calls. At least nine women and girls across Canada have been killed in what are believed to be domestic homicides in just over a month during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to multiple media reports.

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More than four in 10 women and one in three men have experienced some form of domestic violence or intimate partner violence, Kanika Singh and Krittika Misra write.

By Kanika Singh
Krittika Misra

June 21, 2022

It’s a cold winter night and blasting snow blurs the world around you. You’d want to reach home as soon as you could, wouldn’t you?

But even on the harshest night, a person affected by domestic abuse may not want to go home. When your own house is colder and darker than the worst winter night, what do you do?

More than four in 10 women and one in three men have experienced some form of domestic violence or intimate partner violence in their lifetimes, according to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

This is just a glimpse at the seriousness of the problem and served as one of the many reasons that motivated us to work on the topic.

We are a team of three Master of Engineering Design students in the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology at McMaster University, working on designing an online peer-support community for those affected by domestic violence and their concerned friends and family.

We are collaborating with Peer2Peer Consultants, an organization founded by two women with lived experiences, aiming to bridge the gap between people affected by domestic violence and service providers who can help them.

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