Why is domestic violence increasing after Christmas?

End-of-year celebrations often rhyme with family reunions. This type of event can raise the level of decibels, but also tensions. To the point of observing an increase in domestic violence? This is a sad reality measured in the UK by the National Center for Domestic Violence. Indeed, the National Center for Domestic Violence observed a 10% increase in reports of domestic violence between December 2021 and January 2022, and this is already 6% more than a year earlier, over the same period, it reports. The independent. And the transition from 2022 to 2023 could be worse, given the explosion in the cost of living.

Domestic violence reports peak after Christmas

British media say these reports come from the police, social services, domestic abuse helplines, shelters, health workers and charities. Multifactorial, this post-Christmas peak is explained in particular because some victims would try to maintain a good figure during family celebrations, before it all explodes again. Abusive spouses would vent all the more because they know how much harder it is to try to get help at the end of the year, when many social services workers or volunteers go on leave.

Kat Wilson, social worker of the Women’s Aid association, has been observing this post-Christmas domestic violence boom for several years and even talks about the pressure cooker effect under pressure with The independent : you go out less, you stay at home more, behind closed doors, with possible family tensions, all often washed down with alcohol.

Christmas, terrible window of opportunity for abusive fathers to impose themselves on the ex again in the name of their children

According to Mandip Ghai, senior lawyer at Rights of Women, a leading women’s rights advocacy organization in the UK, Christmas presents a dire window of opportunity for abusive men to reassert themselves over the mother of their children, even after a separation. The offspring therefore serves as both a pretext and a shield, according to the legal expert on the subject, interviewed by The independent :

” Christmas offers an opportunity to assert control even if you have left it. There’s also this fear that if there’s violence, Christmas will be ruined for the children. This is something survivors want to avoid. »

In other words, women are more likely to keep quiet about the violence they experience during the holiday season, generally with the aim of preserving some semblance of peace within the home.

131 femicides in France as of December 25, 2022 according to We All

What is valid across the Channel is certainly also valid in France. Between two and three women are murdered each week by their partners or ex-partners in England. In France, the figures are relatively equivalent, since in 2021, 122 women were killed by their partner or ex-partner, i.e. an average uxoricide every 3 days. Among the women killed by their spouse, 35% were victims of previous violence by their partner, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. As of December 25, 2022, the We All association already counts 131 feminicides French. And the year isn’t over yet.

Feature Photo Attribution: SeanShot by Getty Images Signature via Canva.