Read the text below to answer the question.

In a Year of Pandemic and Pain, Women Fight Back (Hillary Margolis)

As violence against women repeatedly grabs headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, women across Europe are at the forefront of mass protests demanding government action to protect women from abuse. Some argue that the women shouldn’t risk their lives by protesting during a pandemic, but using health as a reason for curbing action is a painful irony. Many women’s lives are already at risk, every day, often in their own homes. Even before the pandemic’s onset, one in five women experienced domestic violence. Despite the government’s efforts to encourage domestic violence survivors to seek help, the Human Rights Watch judges some measures reflected a lack of expert input and that insufficient resources left service providers struggling. It’s an ongoing problem, exacerbated but not caused by the pandemic. According to French government data, 146 women were killed by a current or former partner in 2019 — a rate of one every two and a half days, and 20% more than in 2018. Large-scale protests erupted in Turkey following the killing of 27-year-old Pinar Gultekin by her former partner in July, one of at least 234 women killed in Turkey since the beginning of the year. Some politicians from President Erdogan’s ruling party have suggested that Turkey should withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention. This would be a worrying step backwards since Turkey is a country where hundreds of women are killed every year. Activists in Poland also launched protests, but these were only some of many mass demonstrations in a busy year for women’s rights groups. The protests moved online in April because of COVID-19 lockdown measures. Women have harnessed the power of protest elsewhere too. Ukraine and Spain showed in their tens of thousands to call attention to violence against women and gender discrimination. Spikes in domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing crowds may have garnered the world’s attention, but tackling violence against women requires long-term, systemic investment. Women’s groups are working to ensure that national leaders can’t look away when the pandemic subsides.

(Available: https://www.hrw.org/news. Access on: 12/02/2020. Adapted.)