At whose cost? Racialised differences in how domestic violence and sexual violence advocates adapted to COVID-19

Abstract

Much of the research on COVID-19 and violence against women and girls (VAWG) has focused on the impacts on victim-survivors or on organisations offering support. This qualitative study aimed at documenting the coping strategies of, and the impacts on, support workers, specifically domestic and sexual violence advocates (independent domestic violence advisor [IDVA] and independent sexual violence advisors [ISVA]), in two London based organisations. The findings revealed a double load of supporting others while coping with the impacts of the pandemic on themselves and their families. An unanticipated but revealing finding was that the conjunction of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement made visible and visceral the daily work that Black women do to manage everyday racism, including in the VAWG sector. For these women ‘returning to normal’ was an unwelcome and unacceptable prospect, making anti-racism work in the VAWG sector an urgent priority.