“We Are Worried That After The Quarantine The Violence Against Women Would Be Increased”

Women's organizations and activists state that violence against women has increased after people are locked down in their houses in Turkey due to Coronavirus and that women have limited opportunities to report it. While feminist academician Selda Tuncer who we talked about violence against women during quarantine days state that she couldn’t think of the domestic violence for women as they could not even prevent violence that overflows to streets, Berrin Sönmez underlines that the decisions to be taken after the epidemic should be made with a gender perspective. Mor Çatı has also published an information note about what can be done to help women get away from violence in this process.

Worldwide campaigns have been launched with hashtags such as #stayathome due to Coronavirus. These campaigns, while protecting people from the virus, leave them in the middle of a pronged matter. The studies carried out show that violence against women increases, what do you think about this issue?

Selda Tuncer: As we all know, Coronavirus is a global disaster. In these kinds of crisis periods, existing inequalities in society increase much more. There are certain specific cases of increasing male violence against women in this period. The relationship of women with both home and outside as well as labor, changes completely throughout this process.

The main thing we need to examine about gender inequality is how the boundaries of the public and private have been drawn. This creates the main axis within the regulation of relations, actions and practices between women and men. The relationship of women with the world outside the home has always been tense. Since women were connected to the house through various patriarchal mechanisms since childhood, they had to struggle constantly to participate in public and public life. On the other hand, streets are literally men’s homes and they spend most of their lives outside the home. While a man does not know what to do when spending time at home, the fact that the woman spends “more than necessary time outside” becomes a matter of honor and morality. The output of what we call gender-based norms begins right here. If we rethink now that the only way to protect oneself from the virus is to stay at home in this respect, it is obvious that this process will have great problems for women.

The reason for this is that home for women are not an area of safety and peace. Women are beaten, harassed, raped and even killed by men in the family, especially by their spouses or partners. Quarantine means that women would be subjected to all kinds of violence and ill-treatment that may occur in the home and they are deprived of the resources they can get help against. For example, in the last quarter report on the corona crisis in China, it has been stated that male violence has increased three times. Unfortunately, the situation in Turkey would yield a similar result. We already know how women’s murders have increased in recent years and legal measures to prevent them have not been taken. Also, it is not difficult to predict that if the necessary measures are not taken in a crisis that will suspend all the life, it can reach a much more terrible state.

Berrin Sönmez: As violence increases on one hand, we see that the fight against domestic violence has become even weaker and negligible on the other. We were saying, “Masculinity is more lethal than corona.” In Spain, they say not to be afraid of the virus, but to fear the virüs of masculinity. In China, women also say, “You can prevent the virus by closing the doors, but cannot prevent the virus of masculinity.” While social distancing is experienced in the society due to the virus all over the world, the situation of being more intertwined at home and domestic violence as a result leaves the woman helpless.

Women who are relieved when men and children leave home are now deprived of the time they can spare for themselves in their absence. And it is also thought that the burden of women has been multiplied.

Selda Tuncer:  Labor of maintenance policies have always been one of the biggest challenges for women. Especially in times of disaster or war, devotion is always expected from women. This includes housework, taking care of the elderly and children, staying on the good side of men when they get angry, and doing with less. We will soon hear abuot all these discourses, and they will be presented as justifications for violence. Recently, everybody is home including educated and business people, white collar people, both men and women. And, of course, children are home, so here is a huge labor of maintenance crisis. In this case, the problem now is not the woman going out as before, but the man entering the house. Because men have so far resisted being involved in domestic work and in childcare, even the best of men today hasn’t gone beyond assisting. Women always tried to solve this situation with other women, either got help from a woman in the family or hired paid caretakers and cleaners. Now it is not possible to get an outside help during the quarantine process. So in this case we have to ask, where will the men be involved in this maintenance case? Meanwhile, when it comes to maintenance, it includes elderly care, patient care and these have always been expected from women. And also house cleaning during the epidemic requires even more effort. The women that I have observed in social media for the last two weeks, are at home with children, cleaning, cooking, etc. They’re having hard times at dealing with things, this is an endless cycle from day to night. On the other hand, when you look at the educated, business owner, especially intellectual men, the majority f them sustain their public life via the Internet. Some write their daily work schedules or the list of the things they do continues as translation, reading, documentary watching, etc. Things like kitchen or bathroom cleaning is not among the list. Or personal development lists are posted for young people on how to use their “spare time” at home. Of course, young people don’t think about maintenance efforts of women. In fact, a man who I recently learned to be a poet went further and posted an update on men making bread instead of dealing with intellectual work. All this shows us that up to now, the labor of maintenance on the shoulders of women is seen worthless. So, I think there is a big test for men in the corona crisis process who claim that they are sensitive about gender and that they side with equality. How long will they be able handle the housework during this period when the whole family is forced to stay at home? Will they try to be a part of domestic life by taking responsibility, or will they continue to act like guests?

Berrin Sönmez: I see them more as excuses for violence. Neither a man being at home cannot justify violence, nor can anything justify violence. There are rumors that men use woman as a punching bag when at home, this rumors are alarming. Violence will cease if men stop establishing hegemony. The man sees the woman as a tool of establishing hegemony. Men turn the simplest humanly negativities into violence and violently build hegemony. So our issue is not men staying at home. If the woman has a lot of work to do when she stays at home, the man must have a lot of work to do when he stays at home as well. It is necessary to share life especially on difficult days like this epidemic. Men are obliged to ameliorate both himself and his family. Every individual in the family should think that they are responsible to themselves as well as the other individuals in the family. If we say violence is due to lockdown, we will conceal the responsibility of the individual. It would be a dream to expect 65-year-old men to improve in the direction of equality. The elderly worry about loneliness. They get away from the reality because they think about their social perceptions a lot. However, we should not reinforce these unequal behaviors by posting videos on the internet.

Men who claim to have an egalitarian perspective should turn this into an opportunity. Thus, they can increase the atmosphere of peace in the home.

They can increase the ways to share life, and that can be an occasion for happiness. People can do this when they feel compelled to improve both themselves and their families. We see men cooking nowadays on social media. How many of them do it to reflect such an image? How many of them really do it? We have to question this. Staying at home must be turned into an opportunity to give people an equal perspective.

There are also women who stay at home while their husbands are away working. Women who are in solidarity with other women and can exchange talks when their husbands are not at home are no longer able to use support and solidarity mechanisms even if they are more exposed to abuse. What do you think about this?

Selda Tuncer: The most common things that those who perpetrate violence do is to weaken and isolate women. The relationships of women with their families and friends are restricted and taken under control by their spouses or lovers. The woman cannot tell that she is exposed to violence to anyone, as she is embarrassed and as this is a family matter and a private issue. Recently, a more special situation has occurred in Turkey, we now encounter violence in public areas. In other words domestic violence between the family has spread to the streets. Emine Bulut was killed in front of us all. If you look at the way women are killed in the past few years, you can see that about a third has been killed outside the home, on the streets or in a public place. Imagine now, you have to stay home because of the virus at a time when the male violence is out on the streets as well as the houses. In this process, women’s contact with the outside and with the people outside the home cannot be the same, especially if her partner is always near her. This situation of closure and loneliness both increases violence and makes it difficult to combat violence, because women now has limited access to people and institutions to seek help in any emergency. Most of the time, there is not even a person to tell about the violence she faces. Therefore, while the state should take special measures to combat violence against women in times of crisis, it is important that women’s organizations form support groups. For example, in China, when the cases have increased, a network of approximately 2,500 volunteers has been created to meet and support women who have experienced violence.

Berrin Sönmez: Since women cannot report to anyone and are prevented from reporting, they cannot find support from the police as well. They can’t reach the line 184. Where will she report any violence? There is violence and no place to report it. News among the press about violence against women are also limited. The struggle against the corona is on the agenda. It is true, corona is a problem that concerns all humanity, but violence against women is also an older and widespread problem than the corona virus. Violence against women existed in the past, and it exists now. We are worried that when this epidemic ends, we will be left with a great destruction. Because the ways of women of defending themselves, protecting themselves and getting support are closed under the pretext of the virus. We are worried that this may create a terrible picture.

A private and public organization has given paid / unpaid leaves to mothers first. Women’s organizations reacted that this reinforces the view against women and motherhood in the society. What do you think about that?

Selda Tuncer: This is a fair response of course, because such practice is based on the assumption that childcare is the woman’s duty. The crisis on maintenance labor that I have been trying to explain from the very beginning comes into play right here, thus putting more burden on women while fighting the epidemic. This is something that reinforces gender inequality. Why the duties cannot be shared equally between the mother and the father? In addition, this type of approach has other negative consequences for women. In the corona epidemic process, a large number of people have lost their jobs, this means being excluded from employment, especially for women who are unable to work from home for example, who go to house cleaning, or who take care of children, or who work unsafely. If we consider this in the long term, the epidemic at the global level will have major damages to the world and country economy, and this will undoubtedly have a huge impact on women’s employment. In these kinds of economic crises, women are generally expected to return to their homes and take care of their children, while men are regarded as a support for the home. While women are already the most insecure, most flexible and first-revisable group in the market, there will be much greater obstacles to their participation in employment in such a major crisis. Therefore, even though practices such as paid leave for mothers seem very innocent and well-intentioned at first, their long-term consequences would hinder gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Berrin Sönmez: When the issue of paid or non-paid leaves come to the agenda, women immediately come to mind, it should not be like that. Parents should have equal responsibility. Every crisis affects the woman first. Women lose their economic freedom. The fact that a woman who earns her own income then waits for her husband to bring Money home causes problems for women. It causes mainly psychological destruction within the family. We see this as an absolutely unacceptable situation at the point of gender equality. It is very problematic to see women as the first choice in unpaid leaves and layoffs. These are the issues that the state should regulate, and the state should regulate the private sector as well as the public. Many institutions still work according to their own rules. While the state can regulate the working of the staff from home, it does not. Some business lines do not have the opportunity to work from home. For this reason, I find it wrong to have graduated work on the streets, working on shifts or working from home. More radical, sharper decisions should be made to prevent the spread of the virus. However, while making these sharp decisions, it is necessary to take them from a gender perspective, and to improve the conditions of low income families, those who have financial difficulties, those who earn daily wages, and also to protect the perspective of social justice. The state had to regulate this, unfortunately we could not see these regulations in the announced programs. A big economic crisis awaits the whole world. We expected that the production and consumption frenzy of neoliberalism would explode somewhere. It broke out with a virus outbreak. When there are problems such as the economic crisis, the closure of the firms, the decrease in consumption due to the stopping of production, women are the first to be dismissed. This affects mostly the women because the common perception is that the men are the ones to support the family and that men should not be unemployed. There was a research done in Hacettepe in the 70’s. In the family budget, the share of children among the families has increased by twenty percent. When mother works, she takes more care of the children. In houses where the mother works, children are better educated and more self-confident. We are at the opposite of this research. First women are laid off but when the crisis is over and recruitment begins, the first to be employed are men and this causes huge deviations in the economic order of families. Therefore, it will be difficult for children to get prepared for the future. It would be much healthier if the woman was promised to be employed first. But unfortunately, we are far from gender equality, both as families and as individuals.

What should be done when we look at the problems in quarantine? Who has what responsibilities?

Selda Tuncer: Everyone has a part in this regard, but the state is of course responsible. While at the beginning of the process, it is necessary to make an emergency action plan and take necessary measures as soon as possible. The number of women shelters needs to be increased and their conditions need to be improved against the epidemic. Where will the woman go in case of violence? This is the main problem to consider in this process. But despite the fact that the number of women murders in the country we live in has increased this much, how will it be to combat a global level epidemic while not taking adequate measures? Obviously, as women, we are extremely worried and this is a very fair concern. As women’s organizations and feminists, we need solidarity and organization more than ever.

I think the most critical thing for coming up with the solution is how to approach this problem. While combating the corona epidemic, preventing violence against women and protecting women against violence should be seen as part of this struggle. Not only that, but the principles of gender equality must be observed in an overall manner. For example, during the epidemic periods in the world, such as ebola, there were serious problems in women’s access to health services, and there was a great increase in infant mortality. Briefly, there is a need to consider all this and develop a struggle plan accordingly. There are also different disadvantaged groups among women: migrant / refugee women, women who go to domestic cleaning, sex workers, women with disabilities, single women with children, etc. In this process, it is very important to identify the needs and problems of each of them depending on their specific conditions.

Berrin Sönmez: All decisions need to be taken and to be implemented from a gender equality perspective. Any action that is not done with this motive turns into violence against women. All practices should be done without discriminating against women, taking the needs of families into account. The crisis budget should also be prepared by considering gender equality. We are a country where the concept of gender equality is completely removed from the 11th development plan. We do not believe that these will be removed from the five-year economic development plan. But this is the most important condition to survive this crisis. In order for women who make up half of the society to reflect their experiences and knowledge in every field, they should have equal rights to speak and make decisions both in taking and implementing economic measures and in realizing social policies. It is not possible to see the whole society through the eyes of one half of the society. If men decide, it cannot be expected from them to see the whole society. Then we become a half smart society.

Suggestions From Mor Çatı

Mor Çatı has also published an information note on what to do in this period. In the information note, the urgent measures to be taken in order for women to stay away from violence in this process are listed as follows:

Online social, psychological and legal Support should be provided and Social Service Center crisis tables to be created to increase and deliver social benefits.

183 should work as the hotline and it should only operate for supporting violence against women and its capacity should be increased.

Law enforcement officers should do their duty. Law enforcement officers should take the necessary suspending decisions and should follow-up the decisions taken to suspend the one who shows violence from the house.

Shelter and emergency sheltering needs should be provided by applying health measures related to the epidemic.

Free contraceptives and morning after pills should be distributed by Family Health Centers.

Click here (tıklayınız.) to access Mor Çatı’s information note.

Cover image: Shamsia Hassani