Becoming CEO for Women’s Aid: One Year On

On my first year anniversary as CEO of Women’s Aid, I continue to be amazed by the power of our federation to work together to achieve real change for survivors of domestic abuse. Through research, campaigning and the delivery of vital services in uncertain and challenging times, we help to save the lives of women and children every day.

But if we are truly going to bring about an end to domestic abuse, we need to see systemic change at a government and societal level. Only then will women and children be truly safe. My mission for the upcoming year is to continue to strive for a society where violence and abuse against women doesn’t exist.

These are five (very big) steps needed to make that happen:

1. Tackling the root causes of violence against women.

1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in England and Wales in the year ending March 2020 . Women’s inequality, misogyny and sexism are at the core of violence against women and girls – whether it is everyday sexism or domestic abuse. What can be all too easily passed off as “banter” or “toxic behaviour” actually has a much darker impact; it reinforces the inequality women and girls face in all aspects of their daily lives and normalises the attitudes at the heart of abuse. If we don’t address the cause of domestic abuse, we can never stop it. A cultural change is needed across all levels of society – from schools to health services, the police to transport, business, housing and more. The response must be building empowering spaces for women, challenging inequality and giving all women a voice, including women from minoritised groups. We need to unlearn gender stereotypes, unpick power imbalances, and unteach misogyny. Our work with children and young people is just one of the ways we are helping to prevent violence against women. We want to help young people lay the challenging and changing negative stereotypes about men and women, better understanding consent and knowing how to spot the early signs of abuse.

2. Improving survivors experience of policing and the criminal justice system.

Three-quarters of all domestic abuse cases – including sexual assaults – are closed early without the suspect being charged. A culture of disbelief and victim blaming continues to prevent women and girls from accessing justice, and there continues to be low trust in the police among women, particularly those from Black and minoritised communities. It’s just not good enough. The government has made some welcome steps forward, with the recent publication of the new National Framework of Delivery for Policing violence against women and girls. But it must commit to mandatory police and CPS training, delivered by organisations like Women’s Aid, to ensure that any woman who reports domestic abuse receives the right response, first time and her case is treated with the gravity and respect it deserves.

3. Getting the mental health of survivors taken seriously.

Our statistics show that almost half of the women in refuges say they have experienced depression or had suicidal thoughts . These figures are likely to be tip of the iceberg due to the fear and stigma surrounding mental health. We know that the traumatic experiences of survivors are often dismissed, belittled or disbelieved, which has a serious and severe impact on their mental health and obstructs their access to support and recovery. We want to see long-term recovery and independence for survivors. The government must recognise the impact of domestic abuse on the mental health of women and children and fund the specialist support they need to address it – particularly those led ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised groups. Mental health support remains chronically underfunded, and women’s lived experiences of abuse and trauma aren’t adequately central to policy making.

4. Getting the funding our services urgently need.

Despite providing lifesaving support, domestic abuse services continue to operate on a shoestring. More than 1 in 5 refuge services in England received no local authority commissioned funding in 2019/20. While we welcome the government’s dedication of £125 million to fund safe accommodation this year, we estimate that at least £409 million is needed for specialist domestic abuse services across England. This estimation includes the funding needed to meet women’s mental health needs and holistically support their recovery. The government must adequately fund this essential lifeline support, and ensure existing funding is being channelled to specialist services.

5. Safer family courts.

Going through the family courts is often an extremely traumatising process for survivors of domestic abuse. Since I’ve joined Women’s Aid I’ve lost count of the number of women who’ve talked to me about the injustice they and their children have experienced within the family courts. Perpetrators of domestic abuse weaponise child contact arrangements to further abuse women and children, and unsafe child contact decisions can lead to serious harm. The government has adopted welcome recommendations to improve the situation for survivors, but recommendations only go so far – we urgently need to move towards implementation, including through reform to the presumption of parental involvement in the family courts, which is leading to a deadly ‘contact at all costs’ approach in cases of domestic abuse. We cannot wait any longer to keep children safe.

We will continue to hold the government, authorities and institutions to account a as violence against women is rife and our work is urgent — until we no longer walk home in fear, whether it is the journey or the destination that holds the greatest danger. The challenges are huge, but at Women’s Aid we know change is possible. And we won’t rest until it happens.

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