Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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