SPECIAL EDITION: CORONAVIRUS: Ruth Glenn on What’s Behind the New Surge in Domestic Violence

In recent weeks, Covid-19 has resulted in an increase in domestic violence—which already affects one out of three American women. President and CEO of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Ruth Glenn joins to talk about the impact of Covid-19 on rates of domestic violence and what each of us can do to help women who might be at risk.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hi. This is Malan Vervier and this is Kim Azarelli.
We are co authors of the book Fast Forward, How
Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose. And you're listening to
Seneca Women Conversations on Power and Purpose, brought to you
by the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Welcome to this special edition. During these difficult times, we're

(00:38):
talking to experts who can help us gain perspective on
the impact of coronavirus, as well as share tips and
resources and so much needed inspiration. Today I'm joined by
Ruth Glenn. Ruth is the president and CEO of the
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Ruth, thanks so much for
joining us. Thank you much so UH. Obviously this is

(00:59):
a very difficult I'm on so many levels. UH. And
we're starting to see some of the fault lines in
our society being exposed. UM, and you obviously have a
very important role to play in this moment for our listeners.
How common is domestic violence in the US? UH? And
and how common was it prior to coronavirus. It's very

(01:21):
common in fact in our field of work, and UM,
in our relationships with our allies and those that want
to end domestic violences address domestic violence. We consider it
a public health crisis, UM a hidden for the most
part public health crisis, but a public health crisis. There's

(01:43):
the estimates of one in three women UM and we
speak mostly about women, of course, but one in three
women are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence. If you're
out there dinner with your friends, you know one of you,
of the three of you, UM, has experienced domestic violence
or experiencings. So this is all prior to coronavirus. What

(02:08):
are you seeing now in the midst of you know,
one of the greatest health crisis are our country, certainly
and the world has faced in recent year. Well, we
UM were active, as were some of our allies and
partners in UM, ensuring that we provided support and resources
to survivors and advocates as we dealt with this. What

(02:31):
we're seeing, and I'm certain that we're going to see more,
is more incidence of domestic violence being reported. That's going
to be kind of a long term thing. Will see
a lot more towards the end of this. The other
concern that we have is the intensity by which domestic

(02:53):
violence is happening in the home, and UM we've been
hearing of incidences where UM an abusive person has been
using COVID to threaten their victim. We had one incident
that was actually pretty frightening where UM he was he
was very convinced that she was trying to harm him

(03:15):
with COVID and UM began to m verbally and physically
assault her. UM as a result of that, from our
perspective that it had really nothing to do with COVID.
COVID has become another tool by which abusers can abuse.
But those in sort of in domestic violence situations, it

(03:37):
seems as though what we're hearing is that that is
really going up, and and why is that going up?
What I like to say really comcretely is that now
abuser have proximity to the victim UM. Whereas the victim
might have had some ability to have respite or release
from being exposed to the abuser, now the abuser has

(04:02):
a lot more access and using COVID as a tactic
to UH continue their abuse would not be that uncommon.
Abusers make a choice to abuse, and when they discover
that they have yet another links at their disposal to abuse,
they are certainly going to use that. I think COVID

(04:25):
is not necessarily a trigger. UM. I do UM like
to say that when an abuser is seeking tools and
tactics to abuse, they make choices about that, but it
can certainly be risk factors such as substance to use,
mental health COVID nineteen. UM. All of those things can

(04:48):
certainly be a risk factor, but for the most part,
abusers will will use those as a tactic to exercise
their power and control. And at the same time, we
know that any women have less choices now in terms
of being in proximity in this lockdown moment when we're
sort of stuck at home. Um, what what can women

(05:11):
do in that moment? So I got to remind everyone,
UM that it is certainly not only physical. So I
can't even imagine the verbal an emotional assault that may
be occurring in a home in which an abuser UM
is present in abusing their partners. And what I would
say to survivors, Um, you've gotten this far by your

(05:35):
creative thinking. You're planning whatever it might have been that
kept you safe. Don't forget what you've done to this
point to make that happen, and just keep employing that,
keep thinking about that, and then Secondly, if and when, um,
the survivor victim is ready to make any kind of change,

(06:00):
whether it's reaching out to get support services or whether
it's reaching out to go to to a domestic violence shelterre,
please don't hesitate to do that. Our programs on the
ground and direct service aducies are doing all that they
can to make sure that their services have not been

(06:20):
disruptive and it's been challenging, but they are there for
you if the divider victim needs to call out. As
you said, it's one in three women will be making
such domestic violence in our lifetime. What can someone do
to help a neighbor, a friend who you feel might
be at risk? And what what signs or signals should

(06:44):
should we be looking for? If any sure? I think
that's a great question. I think, Um, if you have
someone in your family or a friend and your alarm
goes off, you know, I always say it's pretty with women,
we sometimes have the best intuition and then we sometimes

(07:04):
do the best that we can do. Ignoring if your
line bell is going going off because that person isn't
as available as they used to be. They're not picking
up the phone. Uh, they're showing up very distraught quite frequently. UM,
they seem evasive, their personality has changed. That's probably the

(07:25):
most common is that you know this person needs to
be this and now they're that. It's okay to say
to someone I think something is happening to you. I
want you to know that if you need anything, I
will be here for you. Know, we have a tendency
as a society to say, oh my god, what's happening

(07:46):
to you? We want you to leave, You've got to
get out. UM probably be worth ad by. We could
give someone if we think that they're exparentsing that UM.
We should allow them to make that choice, simply because
there's the best of assessing safety. But we should be
available to provide them a phone number or location or

(08:09):
refuge or whatever it might be, so that when they
are ready to go, we're the person that they know
they can go to. And is there a is there
a resource that you can direct people to who are listening, um,
and that we can direct people to at Seneca Women
that you feel, um, isn't it is important in this moment.
We have a list on our website for family and

(08:31):
friends who may feel as so, UM, they know someone
who might be experiencing domestic violence. If you're referring to
victims and survivors, I would certainly encourage them to call
the National Domestic Violence Hotline. And that's that one eight
hundred seven nine nine seven two three three one eight

(08:53):
hundred seven nine nine spaces. And then of course our
website is UH that C A B B got Org.
We'll be back after this break. We've heard actually from

(09:16):
the u N this week that violence against women is
sort of approaching epidemic levels UM in the coronavirus. Is
there is there something that listeners can do to support
the work you're doing and other organizations are doing so.
Cash donations, of course, are always accepted by our organization,
for instance, that also does not get any grants to

(09:36):
do the work that we do. So we're always very
very happy to be supported by individual donors, and so
are local community UM entities. So during this time in particular,
we would definitely encourage cash donation. I would also not
hesitate to call those entities that you know about, says

(09:57):
there's something that you would like for me to do.
Can I volunteer at home? Can I take some of
the burden off UM? I know we're searching for volunteers
and all the times, so both financial donations and also
donations of time. I mean people do people at least
have more time on their hands and UM and would
like to have an impact. And obviously we're all focused

(10:19):
on what the medical workers are doing and are so
appreciative of all the frontline works, UM, but there are
ways that we who are not frontline workers can contribute,
and I think this is a really important way. So
obviously a very difficult time, a very difficult subject and
difficult reality. Is there something that makes you optimistic in
this moment? Yes, um, you know UM as a survivor myself,

(10:43):
kim Um, I came to this work being optimistic that
not only could I, but we could we as a nation,
could make a change when the World Health Organizations says
that the USA is the United States of America is
the worst at protecting women. Know, we have a problem
in the station. So I appreciate you saying that, UM,

(11:04):
But when I came to this work, I just thought
we can make change. What makes me optimistic is having
conversations with persons such as yourself about domestic violence and
how we can do things differently and um, not just
during COVID, So I do have to say I feel
a little bit of courage that we're having more and

(11:26):
more conversations they've been outside of COVID and people ask
me the question that that you've been asking. What can
we do to make sure that the drivers are assisted?
And then what can we do to change the paradigm
here in the United States and starts to be domestic violence. Well, Ruth,
thank you so much for everything uh you do and

(11:46):
continue to do, particularly during this moment, and please call
on Santeca Woman for anything that you need as you
move forward. Thank you so much, Kim, and of course
thank you to send to women and we will certainly
give you a call. You're listening to Seneca Women Conversations
on Power and Purpose, brought to you by the Seneca

(12:08):
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(12:31):
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a great day.