Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

The Commission has identified five key areasrequiring urgent attention:• Women’s caring responsibilities continue to operate asa disadvantage in career progression (with promotion ortraining requirements often requiring travel or long hours)and in coping with shift or on-call work.• When flexible working and part-time workingarrangements are in place, they are not appliedconsistently and rely on the interpretation of local linemanagement. There is also a lack of understanding thatflexible working can benefit all staff.• Women continue to earn less than their malecounterparts, particularly within the legal profession.• The diversity of individuals applying for the judiciary andfor Queen’s Counsel remains worryingly low. The numberof female applicants for QC in 2008 was at its lowest levelfor ten years.• A male dominated culture continues to exist across thecriminal justice system with women constantly having toprove themselves against male-defined standards such aslong working hours.Women working in the Criminal Justice SystemIn 2008, only 12 percent of police officers at ChiefInspector grade and above were female.Only 15.9 percent of partners in the UK’s ten largest lawfirms were women in 2008.At the top 30 sets of the UK bar, there are only 42 femalecompared to 479 male silks.In 2008, less than a quarter of the prison governors arefemale and fewer than one in four prison officers arewomen.Key Recommendations – Women Need Justice andJustice Needs WomenThe Commission welcomes the Government’s work overthe past five years towards ensuring that the criminal justicesystem meets the needs of women but the pace of changehas been disappointingly slow. This in-depth examinationof the experiences of women in the criminal justice systemhas resulted in recommendations which address each stageof the criminal justice process. These recommendations canbe found at Appendix B.Key over-arching recommendations include:Female Victims of Crime• A Cross-Government Strategy on VAW must beimplemented with real commitment from all Governmentdepartments.• The Government should fund a national awarenessraising campaign on rape and sexual violence, similar toawareness raising campaigns in relation to drink driving.• Specific training aimed at frontline staff within the policeand the CPS to change attitudes towards rape, andimprove initial responses to women and early evidencecollection must be rolled out across the country.• Joint targets for the CPS and the police should bedeveloped to incentivise them to work together anddevelop a national strategy towards rape and otherserious sexual violence offences.• A Government commitment to long term funding forviolence against women service provision, including anational network of rape crisis centres and a 24 hourhelpline.In 2008, just over 10 percent of the 109 High CourtJudges were women and just over 8 percent of the 37Court of Appeal Judges were female. There is only onefemale Law Lord.Page 11