Administrative Response to Consequences of COVID-19 Emergency Responses: Observations and Implications From Gender-Based Violence in Argentina

• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942081
• Author: Luciana Polischuk,Daniel L. Fay
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Street-Level Crisis ManagementManaging Domestic Violence During a Public Health Crisis

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020942081

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 675 –684

© The Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0275074020942081

journals.sagepub.com/home/arp

Managing Domestic Violence During a Public Health Crisis

Introduction

Gender-based violence is a ubiquitous policy issue world-

wide. Evidence suggests that gender-based violence dispro-

portionately affects women and girls and is most commonly

exercised by intimate partners at gender-based violence sur-

vivors’ homes (Merry, 2011). Home isolation and confine-

ment can therefore prove problematic for gender-based

violence survivors in normal times, however, during a global

pandemic, these effects are exacerbated. One of the most

common measures across the globe to slow the spread of the

COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic and reduce

public health systems’ stress is the implementation of restric-

tions on citizens’ mobility and stay-at-home orders (Anderson

et al., 2020). While these measures have proven effective in

containing COVID-19 contagion, they have also placed a

significant burden on gender-violence survivors. According

to UN Women, gender-based violence, a persistent human

rights violation, escalated during COVID-19 lockdowns evi-

denced by increased demand for services related to domestic

violence shelters and helplines across the world, including

the United States (Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2020). However, in

some areas, domestic violence reports saw a sharp decrease,

which advocates argue is a result of increased difficulty in

reporting during quarantine (Southall, 2020).

Gender-based violence is intimately related to patriarchy,

which creates dichotomic structural gender divisions that

favor a dominant form of masculinity over women and non-

hegemonic gender identities. The stereotypical social con-

struction of hegemonic masculinity builds a narrow

relationship with the use of violence against socially subor-

dinated gender identities, including women assigned female

at birth and transwomen (Lombardi et al., 2002). Hegemonic

masculinity is also built on a gendered division of labor with

a higher recognition of labor outside the home and the invisi-

bilization and marginalization of the reproductive labor

mainly carried out by women (Federici, 2004; Moser, 1993).

942081ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020942081The American Review of Public AdministrationPolischuk and Fay

research-article2020

1Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA

Corresponding Author:

Luciana Polischuk, Askew School of Public Administration and Policy,

600 W. College Ave., 639 Bellamy Building, Florida State University,

Tallahassee, FL, USA.

Email: lp16d@my.fsu.edu

Administrative Response to

Consequences of COVID-19

Emergency Responses: Observations

and Implications From Gender-Based

Violence in Argentina

Luciana Polischuk1 and Daniel L. Fay1

Abstract

Many governments across the globe enacted mandatory stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the many consequences of these governmental protection orders is to confine potential perpetrators and victims of

gender-based violence in close proximity thereby reducing the opportunity for survivors to report abuse and get assistance.

In this essay, we describe the multilevel governmental response in Argentina to address gender-based violence during the

first month of mandatory stay-at-home order amid the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. National and provincial governments

enacted innovative and coordinated responses to gender-based violence that targeted systemic causes of gender-based

violence, ensured continuity of existing services, and generated new communication strategies to allow nonverbal reporting

during the pandemic. The Argentinean example suggests that governmental organizations should consider the gendered

effects of government responses to emergencies and respond through a multilevel and cross-sectoral response to protect

groups disproportionately affected by the crisis and resulting policy.

Keywords

gender, violence, COVID-19, emergency management, implementation