"Violence against women continues to persist as one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world"

        Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

 

 

 

Lords' Debate

On 13 January 2011 the House of Lords debated Violence Against Women. Baroness Gould of Potternewton said:

"Many research studies continue to find alarming and unwavering levels of violence against women and girls in the UK, and I make no apology for repeating the figures since awareness is a crucial part of achieving change. Some 33 per cent of girls in an intimate partner relationship aged 13 to 17 have experienced some form of partner violence. Every year, a million women experience at least one incident of domestic abuse-nearly 20,000 cases a week, and 3.7 million women have been sexually assaulted at some point since the age of 16. There are 377 cases of forced marriage, many under the age of 16, and 12 so-called "honour" murders a year. In 2003, there were up to 4,000 women trafficked for sexual exploitation. Some 20 per cent of women say they have experienced stalking. Sixty-six thousand women have experienced FGM, and it is estimated by FORWARD, of which I am patron, that 24,000 girls are at risk every year.

"Violence against women and girls will not be eliminated until the attitudes that excuse and normalise violence are challenged and transformed. For instance, 36 per cent of people believe that a woman is wholly or partly responsible for being sexually assaulted or raped if she is drunk and 26 per cent if she is wearing sexy clothes. One in five people think it would be acceptable in certain circumstances for a man to hit or slap a female partner. What I think is even more distressing is that one in two boys and one in three girls believe that in some circumstances it is all right to hit a woman or force her to have sex. It has to be made clear that the responsibility for any form of violence or abuse lies with the perpetrator."
 

A transcript of the full debate can be read at the link. 

Some UK Statistics

• Domestic Violence accounts for betweeen 16% and 25% of all recorded crime in the UK. One incident every minute is reported to the police. (Home Office 2004)
• In any one year, there are 13 million separate incidents of physical violence or threats of violence against women from partners or former partners. (Walby and Allen, 2004)
• Women are much more likely than men to be the victim of multiple incidents of abuse, and of sexual violence: 32% of women who had ever experienced domestic violence did so four or five (or more) times, compared with 11% of the (smaller number) of men who had ever experienced domestic violence; and women constituted 89% of all those who had experienced 4 or more incidents of domestic violence. (Walby and Allen, 2004)
• Women are more likely than men to have experienced all types of intimate violence (partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking) since the ages of 16. And nearly half the woman who had experienced intimate violence of any kind, were likely to have been victims of more than one kind of intimate abuse. (Coleman et al., 2007)
• 54% of UK rapes are committed by a woman’s current or former partner. (Walby and Allen, 2004)

 

 SI Yeovil & Sherborne District's Bookmark

 

 

For information on this club's initiative, a bookmark that provides information on what to look for out for in relationships, please go to Yeovil's page on this website. There you will find information on how to download and print these off for your use.

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS

September 2010

DAWES Project issues Good Practice Guidelines

The DAWES (Domestic Abuse: Women’s Employment Support) Project was set up in October 2007 thanks to a three year grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The DAWES Project’s remit is to help women affected by domestic abuse to stay in work. The Project provides support and advice on employment rights and good practice to women and employers.They have produced a Good Practice Guidelines resource for employers, trades unions and advice workers.