COVID-19, Job Loss, and Intimate Partner Violence in Peru

Abstract

We collect retrospective panel survey data on household socioeconomic status and domestic conflict from a large nationwide sample in Peru and find a sizable and sustained increase in intimate partner violence (IPV) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The incidence of physical IPV increased by an estimated 56% from 2019 to April/May 2020, and the increase was sustained until July/August 2020, the latest data point collected in our survey. Households most likely to lose a job experienced the largest increases in IPV over the period, measured by variation in the level of job loss across occupations. These patterns suggest that part of the increase in IPV was a causal effect of income shocks created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Intimate Partner Violence, Gender Based Violence, COVID-19, Pandemic, household violence, Peru, Lockdown, Economic stress, coronavirus