Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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Article 16 – Family life: Various measures are threatening the equality of women in terms of marriage and family law e.g. Universal Credit, cuts to legal aid, lack of affordable childcare, changes to family courts. 66 (P167 para 16.22) Forced marriage has been criminalised. This decision was taken against the advice of many women’s rights experts, out of concern that it may lead to lower reporting rates rather than the support of at-risk women. 67 (P162 para 16.4) What will the Government do to address the significant gaps in specialist minority ethnic and refugee support services including crisis-based accommodation, ongoing and consistent case-work support, outreach, resettlement and therapeutic support needs of women and girls who experience forced marriage? How will it ensure that Local Authorities include forced marriage as a strategic priority within local VAWG/ domestic violence strategies? Recommendations: • Women must have access to public funding (legal aid) to obtain justice and protection in the family courts • Sure Start Children’s Centre services must be protected by reinstating the ringfence to the Sure Start grant General Recommendation 19 – Violence against women and girls: VAWG is a persistent and pervasive problem in the UK which leads to high costs to women and their families and to the Government. 68 (P170 para 19.5) Despite various strategies and commitments there has been insufficient effective action to prevent and reduce VAWG and new policies have put women in further danger and, with a few exceptions, 69 reduced what little support is available. Without addressing the underlying causes of VAWG, the wide ranging consequences cannot be dealt with. There is a need for more comprehensive implementation and resourcing for the VAWG Action Plan 70 that is government-wide and reflects women’s intersectional identities. New localised commissioning structures are forcing the specialist women’s VAWG sector into competition with generic services leading to the loss of women-only spaces and expertise in the gendered dynamics of sexual violence. (P182 para 19.47) Government action on female genital mutilation (FGM) is inadequate, piecemeal and fails to include clearly resourced targets on prevention, provision and prosecution. Despite evidence of the extent of the practice 71 (P186 para 19.61) which is illegal under the FGM Act 2003, 72 there 66. Ministry of Justice (2012) Family Justice Review: Government Response. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-justicereview-government-response 67. Carter, H. (2012) ‘Criminalisation of forced marriage ‘will push issue underground’, The Guardian, 8th June 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/ world/2012/jun/08/criminalisation-forced-marriage-push-issue-underground 68. Hirsch, A. (2008) ‘Domestic violence ‘costs £5.8bn’’, The Guardian, 25th November 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/ nov/25/gender-economy-domestic-violence-women 69. Rape Crisis (England and Wales) (2011) ‘Press release: Government funding announced’, Rape Crisis website, 28th January 2011 http:// www.rapecrisis.org.uk/news_show.php?id=51 70. Home Office (2013) Call to End Violence against Woman and Girls: Action Plan 2013. HM Government http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ publications/crime/call-end-violence-women-girls/vawg-action-plan-2013?view=Binary 71. For example in 2012 it was found that more than 2,100 women and girls in London had sought hospital treatment for FGM over the last six years - Woodhouse, C. and Clayton, J. (2012) ‘2,100 women seek treatment for mutilation’, London Evening Standard, 16th February 2012 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/2100-women-seek-treatment-for-mutilation-7443780.html The figures were obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests to London NHS hospitals. The figures showed that 2,167 women accessed hospital treatment for female genital mutilation since 2006, with 708 of those needing to be admitted or have surgery. 72. Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/31/contents 16 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013
have been no prosecutions in England or Wales. 73 VAWG directly affects one in three women globally, and all women indirectly. The UK has appointed a Ministerial Champion on Violence Against Women and Girls Internationally, but there appear to be no resourced objectives for this role. Work by the Department for International Development on VAWG is ambitious, but is currently siloed within the department and is not integrated with work across government. (P194 para 19.87) How will the Government measure the achievement of its substantive CEDAW commitments on VAWG? In particular how it is addressing the impact of VAWG on older, lesbian and bisexual, ethnic minority, disabled, asylum seeking, migrant and other minority women. Recommendations: • A 4 nations Independent Taskforce should be established, reporting to relevant Ministerial Groups on VAWG, to examine the relationship between VAWG and mental health, suicide and self-harm; access to education and other services; and the impact of cuts in public spending and legal aid on women and girls. It should also examine legal and statutory responses, including that of the police and social services • It is crucial that there is a minimum standards framework on VAWG based on equality and human rights principles and mandatory training, distributed evenly throughout the UK, for all statutory bodies and others working with women and on VAWG • Ensure that commissioning and funding structures deliver sufficient sustainable, accessible and high-quality local specialised women-only support services on VAWG. Particular attention needs to be paid to the funding of service provision for groups of women who face additional barriers, such as ethnic minority, disabled, transgender women and women with an insecure immigration status • Training for all statutory professionals on the identification, management and support of those at risk and affected by sexual and domestic violence and FGM in particular should be conducted routinely. This will form the foundation for identifying cases through routine inquiry, increased reporting and prosecutions • Ensure policy coherence, prioritisation and resourcing in tackling VAWG, including prevention interventions, so that work domestically and internationally is aligned, that each supports and reinforces the other, and delivers. This includes monitoring and evaluating the impact of the Ministerial Champion on Violence Against Women and Girls and how this work is related to other international policies General Recommendation 18 – Disabled women: Disabled women are disproportionally disadvantaged by the Government’s austerity measures. 74 Cuts to health and social care, public services and welfare benefits have led to disabled people taking their own lives rather than live with the impact of these cuts increasing 73. Ellison, J. (2011) Child Protection System in England, Written evidence submitted by Jane Ellison MP to the Education Select Committee, Session 2010-12, 11/11/11 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmeduc/writev/1514/cp60.htm Contrast the situation in France where there have been about 100 convictions relating to FGM, many of them resulting in parents and FGM practitioners being sent to prison. See BBC News (2012) ‘FGM reconstructive surgery made me ‘complete’, BBC NEWS World, 24th July 2012 http://www. bbc.co.uk/news/world-18976217 74. Disability Benefits Consortium (2011) Benefiting Disabled People? A report by the Disability benefits Consortium looking at the support offered to disabled people and people with a health condition by the benefits system and how this support could be improved. www. lcdisability.org/download.php?id=1647 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013 17
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Page 5 and 6: Appendices (online only) Appendix 1
Page 7 and 8: • the continued discrimination ag
Page 9 and 10: • Develop a common model of analy
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Page 13 and 14: investment in social infrastructure
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Page 35 and 36: 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 CEDAW and the l
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7.21 7.22 7.23 Political representa
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9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Article
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9.9 9.10 Mainstreaming gender in th
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9.15 9.16 9.17 biased views towards
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9.21 9.22 9.23 9.24 women. 47 (See
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9.28 9.29 9.30 9.31 New family migr
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9.35 9.36 UKBA, where men and women
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9.39 9.40 9.41 9.42 • Do not redu
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9.46 Research on immigration case m
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10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 The Educat
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10.22 10.23 allow speakers to promo
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10.37 10.38 10.39 10.40 • Many wo
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10.46 10.47 10.48 applications (fig
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11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Article 11 - Em
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11.8 11.9 are 754,000 women working
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11.24 11.25 11.26 per week or they
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11.31 11.32 11.33 Introducing more
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11.37 11.38 Case study: 83 Jasmine
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11.42 11.43 11.44 11.45 At the 2012
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12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 of women and en
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12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 Translators
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12.19 12.20 12.21 12.22 Barriers to
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12.25 12.26 12.27 12.28 Gypsy and T
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12.34 12.35 12.36 12.37 Older women
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12.41 12.42 Recommendations: • Th
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12.47 12.48 12.49 12.50 they are at
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12.60 12.61 12.62 12.63 12.64 hospi
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13.32 13.33 Case study: 57 “As a
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13.36 13.37 allocation of resources
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13.41 13.42 Homelessness, including
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13.47 13.48 BME women would be left
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14.6 14.7 14.8 disabled and lesbian
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Recommendations: • Parents with c
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19.13 19.14 19.15 19.16 The Governm
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19.22 19.23 19.24 19.25 VAWG is a c
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19.38 19.39 19.40 perpetrators thro
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19.49 19.50 19.51 19.52 Recommendat
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19.62 19.63 19.64 19.65 VAWG in hea
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19.70 19.71 19.72 Invisibility of s
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19.85 19.86 means more provision. T
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Annex 1: The Devolved Administratio
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to 41.8% of rural men. 16 Rural are
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Annex 2: The UK’s relationship wi
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Annex 3: UK reservations and declar
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ESA - Employment and Support Allowa
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Annex 5: Acknowledgements Many than
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Women’s Resource Centre is suppor
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Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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