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Mar 16, 2021 - Politics & Policy

AAPI women more than twice as likely to report hate incidents as men, report finds

Shawna Chen
Photo of a crowd of people holding up signs and banners protesting anti-Asian hate

Demonstrators take part in a rally to raise awareness of anti-Asian violence at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images

Racism-fueled violence against Asian Americans continues to spike, with women more than twice as likely to be targeted than men, according to a report from the reporting center Stop AAPI Hate published Tuesday.

Why it matters: Anti-Asian racism escalated after the pandemic began, with people blaming Asian Americans for COVID-19, which was first detected in China.

  • It follows a long history of anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S., made worse last year by former President Trump's "Chinese virus" rhetoric.

Driving the news: Stop AAPI Hate received nearly 3,800 self-reported incidents from March 19 last year to Feb. 28. The organization warned the number represents only a fraction of incidents due to tendencies to underreport.

By the numbers: Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%), or the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans, comprise the two largest proportions of total reported incidents.

  • Physical assault comes in third at 11.1%.
  • Chinese people are the largest ethnic group to report experiencing hate (42.2%), followed by Koreans (14.8%), the Vietnamese (8.5%) and Filipinos (7.9%).
  • Businesses are the "primary site" of discrimination (35.4%), while 25.3% of reported incidents took place in public streets.

Of note: Though not specified in the report, women also face hate-motivated sexual violence. One attack occurred in a train station last week.

The big picture: Anti-Asian hate has gained more attention in recent weeks, as a string of particularly violent attacks against Asian American elders spurred outrage.

  • About four in 10 Americans have said it's more common for people to express racist views about Asian people now than before the pandemic, per a July report from the Pew Research Center.
  • Last week, Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced plans to reintroduce the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would designate a Justice Department officer to oversee review of reported coronavirus-related hate crimes.
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