Gender based violence and women’s mobilization during Romania’s coronavirus lockdown. Intersecting inequalities shape agendas and repertoire of action

This research aims to understand what happened with women facing domestic violence during the pandemic lockdown and also with the activity of NGOs. The paper draws on and contributes to recent research focusing on women’s movements’ agency in Central and Eastern Europe, and on women’s rights activists as agents of change in their local contexts (Fabian 2010, Spehar 2013, Krizsan and Popa 2014, 2015). Such analyses, focusing on modes and strategies of organizing, and on taking up or creating opportunities for political intervention and social change, call into question previous characterizations of women’s activism in the region as rather powerless, non-political, and co-opted either by international donors, or by the state. Alongside social movement literature, the analyses of gender and the global financial crisis also prove informative. Consistent data showed that the 2008 global financial crisis had a disproportionate impact on women, and that the reactions of states and international institutions were inconsistent and inefficient, and the flawed austerity policies neglected gender (True 2012, Hozić and True 2016, Krizsán and Roggeband 2019). Large increases in domestic violence were reported in many countries as the financial crisis brought job losses, poverty, and financial insecurity. Research from four Central and Eastern European countries (Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania) identified backsliding trends in gender equality policies. Gender based violence and domestic violence policy was one of the gender equality fields that were most hard hit by the crisis in Romania (Băluță 2011, 2017). Nevertheless, starting with 2011 struggles of civil society’s actors led to important progress in the field of combating gender violence. Women’s organizations actively participated in protests or led advocacy campaigns to adjust legislation and policies in the field. The financial and economic crisis taught Romanian scholars and activists that politicians make gender blind decisions that increase the vulnerability of women, and that women’s NGOs and feminist organizations play an important role in raising awareness and advancing policy changes. My central argument is that previous institutional and policy vulnerabilities in the field of gender-based violence were exacerbated by the coronavirus, and the unusual nature of the pandemic lockdown presented new challenges by amending and shaping the agenda, repertoires and strategies of domestic activists. Echoing the experience of 2008, the government and politicians again constructed a gender blind narrative that worsened the protection of victims and the management of risk situations. And, like 2008, when governmental response was inadequate, NGOs and grassroots initiatives moved to fill the vacuum as best they could. Mostly building on interview data with feminist and women’s rights activists, gathered in 2020, 2016, this article also shows that that intersecting inequalities have informed and shaped the agenda, repertoires and strategies of domestic activists and critically reflects on the NGO-ization thesis. The selection of NGOs covers active centers of mobilization and service provision in Romania: Bucharest, Cluj, Sibiu, Brașov; these NGOs are part of the oldest and most active national networks struggling against domestic violence, doing advocacy, or engaging in service provision, and are also linked to international networks.