Almost 30,000 calls made to Women’s Aid during the pandemic

The number of disclosures of domestic violence has increased by 43% since 2019.

The pandemic has seen a huge increase in calls made to the domestic abuse support organisation Women's Aid. According to the charity, the issue of domestic abuse became more prevalent in 2020, with Women's Aid being contacted over 27,000 times while they received over 30,000 disclosures of domestic abuse, which can take both violent and non-violent forms. The amount of disclosures in 2020 increased by 43% compared to the previous year. Earlier this week, the charity announced that they would be partnering with Allianz Insurance to tackle domestic abuse. The three-year partnership, which is worth €1 million, will see all internal managers at the insurance company receive training, the implementation of a domestic abuse support policy, a public awareness campaign and financial support for Women's Aid. The campaign will target bystanders such as friends, family and neighbours and will educate them on the forms domestic violence can take as well as ways to support victims. Additionally, the partnership saw the launch of an education and awareness campaign titled The World's Strongest Women. This campaign highlights the resilience of those who are living through domestic violence. In announcing the partnership, Sarah Benson, the Chief Executive of Women's Aid said: "Since our foundation in 1974, Women's Aid is committed to working in co-operation with leaders at all levels in our community. Together we can create a zero tolerance in Ireland for all forms of gender based violence, including the scourge of domestic abuse. "We are simply delighted to join with Allianz to further this goal. With the combined innovation of public awareness, internal policy development and training, this partnership represents a wonderful model of how companies of any size can collaborate with specialist services to generate a positive change for their employees, their customers and our wider society." If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, support is available. Women's Aid's 24hr National Freephone Helpline can be reached on 1800 341 900. Other resources can be found on their website right here.