Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, 243 million women and girls globally were abused by their intimate partners in the past year. Since the pandemic, with lockdowns measures, countries around the world have seen an alarming rise in reporting on violence against women, especially domestic violence.

Hayat Mirshad is a Lebanese feminist activist. In 2012, she initiated the first-ever feminist radio programme in Lebanon “Sharika wa Laken” (A Partner Not Yet Equal), where she remains as one of the web and content managers. She is a co-founder and co-director at FE-MALE, a non-profit feminist collective, and head of communications and campaigning at the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering- RDFL, a women’s rights organization working for gender equality in Lebanon for more than 40 years. She is also a member of UN Women’s Youth Gender Innovation Agora. Hayat attended the Regional Youth Forum on Ending Violence against Women supported by the Government of Japan