Voices of Syrian refugee women in Jordan living with exacerbated gender-based violence during COVID-19: conceptualizing a feminist perspective for social work

The destructive and chaotic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed health services to capacity, triggered nationwide lockdowns, and disrupted international markets-transforming people’s livelihoods and lives in a fundamentally adverse manner. This dramatic global political and social upheaval has disproportionately affected vulnerable populations. This chapter reports qualitative research exploring the lived experiences of 20 Syrian refugee women experiencing gender-based violence during lockdown. Their narratives reflect the exacerbated violence experienced by them when forced to stay at home with their aggressors. The chapter outlines feminist approaches that provide social work practitioners, academics and researchers with a framework to undertake a gendered analysis of power and injustice for refugees by providing a foundation for critical reflection, engaging in action, and challenging the gender-based violence perpetrated globally.