Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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19.34 19.35 19.36 19.37 intervention by health professionals is crucial to ensure the protection that women and their children need. (See Article 12) Good DV at work policies, awareness of DV by managers and colleagues along with other employment support measures also need to be in place to enable women experiencing DV not to experience any detriment at work. (See Article 11) VAWG and the law Despite significant improvements in the gender sensitivity of law and policy related to VAWG in England and Wales, women continue to face significant barriers to accessing legal remedies when they are at risk of, or have experienced violence. There have been significant developments in the law and legal remedies available to protect women from violence and bring perpetrators to justice over the past ten years and prosecutions and convictions for crimes of VAWG have risen by 15,000 between 2008-12. 55 However, there is still a long way to go as this does not reflect the prevalence of VAWG and the root issues must still be addressed. Research 56 has found that improvements in the law are not sufficient in isolation to effectively eliminate VAWG. Although civil law remedies may be available to some women affected by sexual violence, there is an absence of any response to sexual violence in the civil courts. 57 We are particularly concerned that there is an acute lack of specialised services that provide protection, enable women to access legal remedies, and support their full rehabilitation e.g. specialist services for BMER women. (See Article 3 and Appendix: 5) Case study: 58 “Most of the women that access our services are reluctant to report VAWG to the police. Many women that have denounced have not had a good experience. For instance, some women have told us that when they sought help from the police they felt ignored and dismissed because they could not communicate clearly. In one example police officers responding to a call from the victim used the victim’s children as interpreters. Another client said that police talked to her husband rather than to her.” Numerous independent reports have criticised the police for their insensitive and dismissive approach to victims of sexual violence. The 2009 Victim’s Champion report 59 featured some heavily critical comments of the police and the way in which rape complaints were handled and prosecuted. In cases of DV there is also evidence to suggest that authorities do not act effectively to protect women they know to be vulnerable. 60 (See Article 15 and Appendix: 32 for further information) Law and policy in the UK to prevent and prohibit VAWG has also focused on prosecuting 55. Kelly, J. (2012) ‘Rise in convictions for violence against women’, BBC News, 23rd July 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18949533 56. Rights of Women (2010) Measuring up? UK compliance with international commitments on violence against women in England and Wales. ROW: London http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/pdfs/Measuring_up_A_report_by_Rights_of_Women.pdf 57. Rights of Women (2010) Measuring up? UK compliance with international commitments on violence against women in England and Wales. ROW: London http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/pdfs/Measuring_up_A_report_by_Rights_of_Women.pdf 58. Latin American Women’s Rights Service http://www.lawrs.org.uk/ Accessed: 22/03/13 59. Payne, S. Victim’s Champion (2009) Rape: The Victim Experience Review. Home Office: London http://wnc.equalities.gov.uk/work-of-thewnc/violence-against-women/news-and-updates/280-rape-the-victim-experience-review.html 60. See Independent Police Complaints Commission (2012) ‘IPCC publishes findings from investigation into Merseyside Police’s response to women’s concerns’, IPCC website, 20th July 2012 http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/news/Pages/pr_200112_merseysidemott.aspx; Independent Police Complaints Commission (2011) ‘IPCC finds individual and systemic failures in Nottinghamshire Police’s handling of domestic incidents involving Casey Brittle’, IPCC website, 18th October 2011 http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/news/Pages/pr_181011_brittle.aspx?auto=True& l1link=pages%2Fnews.aspx&l1title=News%20and%20press&l2link=news%2FPages%2Fdefault.aspx&l2title=Press%20Releases; Davies, L. (2012) ‘Essex police failed woman murdered by her e-partner, watchdog says’, The Guardian, 22nd August 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/ uk/2012/aug/22/police-failed-woman-david-oakes-ipcc 178 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013
19.38 19.39 19.40 perpetrators through the CJS. However, this does not always work in the interests of women experiencing VAWG or lead to their protection. Women are still not reporting to the police and continue to lack confidence in the CJS. 61 Many women who do contact the police in an emergency feel let down. 62 Women’s access to justice is also being severely reduced with the closure of Special Domestic Violence Courts (See Article 16) and advice on complex welfare benefits issues, housing issues and immigration issues, and the removal of legal aid (See Article 13 and Appendix: 28 for more information) VAWG prevention Under the Beijing Platform for Action, 63 the Government must study the causes and consequences of VAWG by collecting and analysing disaggregated statistics on VAWG and analysing the prevalence of different forms of violence including research on the impact of this. The Government should also analyse the impact of legislation. In Britain, the PSED requires public bodies to take account of equality, discrimination and good relations, which means that Local Authorities, government departments, police forces and schools should examine their policies to ensure they are promoting equality between women and men including how they are preventing VAWG. However, surveys consistently show that different sections of society hold deeply entrenched and prejudicial attitudes about VAWG: • 36% of people believe that a woman should be held wholly or partly responsible for being sexually assaulted or raped if she was drunk, and 26% if she was in public wearing sexy or revealing clothes 64 • one in five people think it would be acceptable in certain circumstances for a man to hit or slap his female partner in response to her being dressed in sexy or revealing clothing in public 65 • 43% of teenage girls believe that it is acceptable for a boyfriend to be aggressive towards his partner 66 • one in two boys and one in three girls believe that there are some circumstances when it is okay to hit a woman or force her to have sex. 67 This is linked to sexual bullying. (See Article 10) The recent case 68 of a woman raped by convicted footballer, Ched Evans, who was named on social media contrary to legal protection of anonymity afforded to rape complainants, and abused and harassed online, has highlighted the urgency of needing to tackle such attitudes and behaviours at the root. 61. Kelly, L. et al (2005) A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases. Home Office Research Study 293, Home Office: London http:// library.npia.police.uk/docs/hors/hors293.pdf 62. Rights of Women (2010) Measuring up? UK compliance with international commitments on violence against women in England and Wales. ROW: London http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/pdfs/Measuring_up_A_report_by_Rights_of_Women.pdf 63. Beijing Platform for Action http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/ 64. Home Office, Violence against women opinion polling (2009) in End Violence Against Women Coalition (2011) A Different World is Possible: A call for long-term and targeted action to prevent violence against women and girls. EVAW: London http://www. endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/data/files/resources/19/a_different_world_is_possible_report_email_version.pdf 65. Home Office, Violence against women opinion polling (2009) in End Violence Against Women Coalition (2011) A Different World is Possible: A call for long-term and targeted action to prevent violence against women and girls. EVAW: London http://www. endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/data/files/resources/19/a_different_world_is_possible_report_email_version.pdf 66. NSPCC (2005) Teen abuse survey of Great Britain in Kali, A., Joy, I. And Jarvinen, J. (2008) Hard Knock Life: Violence against women. A guide for donors and funders. New Philanthropy Capital: London http://www.thinknpc.org/publications/hard-knock-life/ 67. Burton, S. and Kitzinger, J. (1998) Young People’s Attitudes towards Sex, Violence and Relationships: A survey and focus group study. The Zero Tolerance Trust: Glasgow http://www.vawpreventionscotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/1998YPattitudes%20research.pdf 68. Gladdis, K., Narain, J. and Brooke, C. (2012) ‘Ched Evans’ teammate suspended over Twitter comments about rape conviction’, Daily Mail Online, 18th May 2012 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133792/Ched-Evans-rape-victim-named-abused-Twitter-girlfriendstands-Wales-footballer.html Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013 179
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Women’s equality in the UK - A he
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Women’s equality in the UK - A he
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Appendices (online only) Appendix 1
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• the continued discrimination ag
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• Develop a common model of analy
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Article 9 - Nationality: One third
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investment in social infrastructure
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and increase the marginalisation of
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have been no prosecutions in Englan
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1 2 3 4 5 Introduction This is a Un
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10 11 12 13 housing crisis, a ‘lo
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1.1 1.2 1.3 Article 1 - Overarching
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1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Women’
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1.17 1.18 1.19 Young women We are a
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2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 consult to “remov
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2.12 2.13 discrimination”. Howeve
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2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 worsen gen
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2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 CEDAW and the l
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3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 would “increase
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3.15 3.16 3.17 and accountable EHRC
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3.22 3.23 3.24 report is was partic
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classes, migrants, and Gypsy, Trave
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the institutional discrimination an
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5.5 5.6 5.7 Case study: 8 Sandra li
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5.12 5.13 5.14 issue. A more approp
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6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Article 6 - Exploit
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6.9 6.10 6.11 to the protection and
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6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 Office’s own
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6.24 6.25 6.26 women and increase t
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6.31 6.32 6.33 6.34 infrequent lap
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7.1 7.2 Article 7 - Political and p
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7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 The House of Lords
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7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 Recommenda
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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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10.13 10.14 10.15 10.16 boys and on
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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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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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11.14 11.15 11.16 11.17 11.18 The g
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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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12.34 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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12.55 12.56 12.57 Case studies: 128
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