WOMEN’S organisations have warned the Austrian government that the coronavirus pandemic is fuelling a rise in domestic violence.

Widespread protests in the country have called for intervention on the worrying trend.

At least 14 women have been killed in Austria so far this year, making it one of the few EU countries where the number of women killed is higher than the number of men.

A 35-year-old woman was working at a tobacco shop in Vienna when her ex-boyfriend doused her in gasoline and set her ablaze in March, authorities say.

In April another woman of the same age was found shot to death in her home in the Austrian capital, also reportedly by her ex-partner.

The high-profile cases have led to protests, demands for government intervention and condemnations from Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and President Alexander van der Bellen.

Experts say that several factors fuel the long-standing problem, including a view by some within Austria’s conservative Catholic population that women should be subservient.

They also blame the normalisation of sexist language by the far-right Freedom Party, which is now in opposition having been part of two national coalition governments.

“We’ve seen that the language about and towards women has become more radical,” said Maria Roesslhumer, who is head of Austria’s largest network of women’s shelters and has been sounding the alarm for years.

“And when this kind of verbal violence is possible in a country, then the path to physical violence isn’t far.”

Economic insecurity caused by the 2007-2008 financial crisis is also believed to have exacerbated domestic violence.

Women’s advocates said that the Covid-19 pandemic is now having a similar effect, with many people out of work and stay-at-home orders leaving victims trapped with their abusers.

Ms Roesslhumer hopes that leading politicians will now commit to more funding for women’s organisations as well as better enforcement of existing laws on domestic violence.

“If you truly want to guarantee the safety of women, or to improve the safety of women, you need to invest in it,” she said.

She called for an additional 3,000 jobs in violence prevention and said that more training is needed for those who work in law enforcement, justice and education to ensure that violence-prevention laws are better enforced.