Misogyny, sexism and violence against women and girls is once again unfortunately on the public agenda. In July, it was declared that there was ‘staggering levels’ of violence against women and girls (VAWG), which, according to a leading female police chief, amounted to a ‘national emergency’. [1] We have also seen some shocking high profile individual cases as well, just last week we heard the unfortunate case of Sara Sharif, who at age 10 was ‘strangled before death and showed signs of starvation’ after being killed by her father, who by note confessed stating "It's me, Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating. I swear to God it was not my intention to kill her but I lost it.".[2]
We have also seen cases of grown women facing these same struggles. A BBC article recounted how a Woman, aged 31, had made a will fearing her husband would kill her, also taking out life insurance, stating that she was reduced to a “shell of a person”.[3] The statistics do not lie, according to the NPCC, police recorded VAWG related crimes increased by 37% between 2018/23, at least 1 in every 12 women will be a victim per year, and child sexual abuse and exploitation had increased by more than 400% between 2013 and 2022.[4] NPCC also stated that not only is the issue growing, but they are see ‘ever more complicated types of offending’. [5] There is a clear epidemic of VAWG, that seems no sign of wavering, it is therefore imperative we understand the root causes of this issue and analyse the policy landscape to inform practice.
Current approach and policy agenda
Thankfully, the current government have VAWG as a key policy area and is considered fundamental to their pledge to create ‘safer streets’, being one of the governments five central missions. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, states that this means that all departments are working together to tackle the problem. Jess Phillips, who is the VAWG minister told the Guardian that already announced policies are a sign in the right direct and that ‘These are first steps toward what I hope will be real, tangible change’. Some of these announcements include: embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms under ‘Raneem’s Law’, piloting of new domestic abuse protection order , powers given to six police forces to charge domestic abuse suspects without first going to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), specialist advisers for victims in domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault cases and plans to tackle sexism in schools.[6] It is welcomed that so much is being done, or is proposed to be done in order to tackle the crisis in VAWG.
Of course, it remains questioned as to the practical implications of how these targets are ultimately going to be measured. The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) has suggested annual targets to bring down the number of women killed by men.[7] However, on the contrary, Katrin Hohl, who is the government’s independent sexual violence adviser, warns that a target-driven approach may be counterproductive “the focus needs to be on walking the walk, not hitting a headline-friendly target”.
Our Schools and Misogyny
The policy agenda around this issue has been strengthened by a moral panic around children in schools, in particular since the meteoric rise of Andrew Tate and a fear of radicalisation of young boys. This is strengthened by news since Friday, that Sadiq Khan has written to ‘every primary school in London urging them to counter the online misogyny of influencers such as Tate through new classes and workshops’, this was devised as ‘part of plans to tackle violence against women and girls’.[8]
This includes a £1Million toolkit to help teachers counter misogynistic messages, this is after research revealed that ‘one in three young males’ have a positive view of Tate, and that one in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine. [9] The aim therefore of high quality, preventative education is to fulfil the grand government ambition of halving violence against women and girls in a decade. This is part of a noticeably public health approach, to what often is considered a purely ‘criminal’ issue.
Preventative intervention is key to combatting the worst effects of anti-social behaviour, and this included VAWG. Lucy Emmerson, who is the chief executive of the Sex Education Forum, argues that a comprehensive sex education is a crucial part of this preventative approach. Part of this includes holding the promise of making Sex and relationships education to stay in place in schools, as fears grow after the previous government was looking to roll it back.[10] If we refute the view that people are born perpetrators, then it holds that we should do our upmost to make sure that our young people are properly protected and educated in order to combat living in a exceedingly confusing and hostile world. More information on education based interventions are available on the College of Policing website.[11]
The problem of Data
Data is as much a problem with VAWG as it is with anti-social behaviour, and the lack of understanding on an issue impedes progress by preventing targeting and focus. The existing dataset of VAWG, is often inadequate, and often misses experiences of minority groups which was noted by the police inspectorate. A report from the domestic abuse commissioner also found that half of female victims, wanted their abusers to get help to stop their behaviour, however, this happened in only 7% of cases.[12] Holistic and intervention based approaches could therefore, be used alongside education to best tackle VAWG. Of course, the criminal justice system needs to be effective, not only to deliver justice to victims, but to also act as a deterrent. Unfortunately, a survey of families of women killed by men found that ‘78% of respondents had suffered a history of abuse that was reported to authorities’.[13]
There are a plethora of updates that show policymakers are tackling VAWG with the seriousness and severity it deserves. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which became law on the 30th of April 2021, was a landmark piece of legislation that delivered many things, but some were a legal definition, a domestic abuse commissioner, a legal duty on councils to fund support for survivor’s, a ban on abusers using a defence of ‘rough sex’ and more. Despite some great progress in the policy arena, that often attract headlines, VAWG is an area where law and legislation has made great strides, however the practicality of the systems in place do not deliver for victims. Police rape referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are up by 219% from the quarterly average in 2019.[14] This is within a context of a severely underfunded CPS and a struggling court system which bring huge problems in delivering outcomes for victims. Alarmingly, there is also a huge shortage of specialist barristers to prosecute and defend in rape cases.[15] And, as of March, the number of sexual offence cases waiting to go to trial was at a record high. [16]]
It is clear therefore there a huge practical challenges before we even begin to analyse the efficacy of legislation. Despite these challenges, there are some evident examples of innovative practice, that namely focuses on a preventative interventive approach. Hopefully, by raising awareness and helping to shape the agenda setting of government, we can make sure the practical issues found are priorities for the coming government, in order to achieve their ambition of halving VAWG in a decade. As always, we welcome an open dialogue about these issues, without conversation we can not expect to lead the conversation.
[1] https://news.sky.com/story/violence-against-women-and-girls-related-crime-reaches-staggering-levels-13183550
[2] https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/sara-sharif-10-was-strangled-before-death-and-showed-signs-of-starvation-court/
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y3zlrnd62o
[4] https://www.npcc.police.uk/our-work/violence-against-women-and-girls/
[5] https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/call-to-action-as-violence-against-women-and-girls-epidemic-deepens-1
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/13/labour-violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-policy
[7] https://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/
[8] https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/oct/18/london-mayor-primary-schools-online-misogyny
[9] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/31/one-in-10-children-have-watched-pornography-by-time-they-are-nine
[10] https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/first-edition-sex-education
[11] https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/interventions-reduce-violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-public-spaces/education-interventions
[12] https://domesticabusecommissioner.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/DAC_Mapping-Abuse-Suvivors_Summary-Report_Feb-2023_Digital.pdf
[13] https://www.killedwomen.org/thereport
[14] https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-02-19/debates/24021971000015/ProgressReportOnTheImplementationOfTheRapeReviewActionPlan
[15] https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/landmark-survey-reveals-mass-exodus-of-specialist-rape-lawyers/5118720.article#:~:text=The%20Criminal%20Bar%20Association%20conducted,refused%20due%20to%20poor%20wellbeing.
