ANÁLISE DOS IMPACTOS DA PANDEMIA DE COVID-19 NOS CASOS DE VIOLÊNCIA DOMÉSTICA NOS MUNICÍPIOS DE CAXIAS E IMPERATRIZ, MARANHÃO

Abstract

Gender-based violence is a social problem that has plagued humanity since ancient times. Global studies indicate that around a third of women have been victims of physical or sexual violence committed by their partners. The Covid-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, has significantly aggravated cases of domestic violence, mainly due to the confinement of women to their homes. The aim of this study was to highlight the impacts of the pandemic in the municipalities of Caxias and Imperatriz, in Maranhão, by comparing official records of gender-based violence from 2019 to 2022. The study adopted a dialectical approach, with quantitative and qualitative procedures, based on the theoretical framework of Health Geography and secondary data provided by the National Council of Justice and the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System. Data such as age of victims, type of violence suffered, victim/aggressor relationship, ethnic-racial factor and schooling were selected in the data collection process. The comparison of records between 2019 and 2020 in Maranhão revealed a considerable drop in the number of occurrences in 2020, however, this phenomenon contradicts the increase in cases of femicide, which quadrupled in the same period. A similar scenario occurred in the municipalities of Caxias and Imperatriz. Therefore, it is considered that the pandemic period directly influenced the notification of cases, both because of the change in the dynamics of violence and because of the difficulties imposed by social isolation measures.