Violence Against Women In The Uk Term paper

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DISCUSS THE EXTENT OF PROTECTION FOR WOMEN AGAINST MALE VIOLENCE BY THE STATE.

For this essay I am going to look at Domestic Violence against women and what the State is doing to protect them. Domestic Violence is now a well-known global occurrence affecting not only women but also their children too. Violence against woman has been around since the dawn of time. We have all seen cartoon pictures of the caveman dragging his mate behind him by her hair. It was just something that men did. Woman had no protection against men especially if they were married to their attacker. For the first 75 years of the 20th century women were seen as meek and subservient to their men and were also owned by those men. Men had a social right to keep their women under control. Things began to change from the late 1960’s early 1970’s. As feminism became more popular the feelings that men owned their women began to subside. But this change in society did not so much to change the occurrence and violence of violence in the home.

So what exactly is domestic violence? “ Domestic Violence is usually defined as physical, emotional, sexual and other abuse by someone (usually but not always a man) of a person (usually not always a woman) with whom they have or have had some form of intimate relationship such as marriage, in order to maintain power and control over that person. It may include threats to kill or harm the woman and/or her children or other family members” (Barron 1992) Lists of typical injuries sustained by victims include:

§ Bruising

§ Bleeding

§ Hair loss

§ Knife wounds

§ Scratches to body and face

§ Concussion

§ Broken/loss of teeth

This list could go and on. Injuries do not have to include physical but also mental. The cause of domestic violence against women can never fully be documented. There is the Liberal approach that violence against women is a rare occurrence and that it is only a small number of men who will abuse. They blame social backgrounds that form a cycle of abuse. If the father used violence against the mother then the child will see it as normal. They also feel that to push a man as far as to commit an assault sexual frustration should also be taken into consideration. But the criticisms against this approach include the notion that not all men who come from a broken home go out and commit rape and systematic abuse. They see that the women have to take part of the blame by the way they act or dress.

Class is another main approach in trying to decipher why men use violence against women. Violence is attributed to the lower/working classes or black social groups. Sylvia Walby has attacked this approach by saying that this is not the case. Not all under educated, low paid or low status men go out and rape and abuse.

Radical feminists see domestic violence as a widespread and classless act. They see that men are expected to take the lead in a situation, they are supposed to be strong and macho. They go to war and fight for their countries. Their strength is something to be looked up to not down on. Their strength is their basis of power. The critics against this approach say that is does not take into account class or race. Male violence is a form of social control and the state does not make an attempt to control and eradicate it. The sate is run by men, for men, to protect men.

Figures to show the extent of male violence against women is difficult to truly estimate due to the large number of abuse cases that are never reported to the police. Statistics that have been documented are alarming to say the least.

§ 1 in 4 women may experience violence in their relationships with men (Women’s Aid Federation {England} report 1992)

§ Severe, repeated and systematic violence occurs in at least 5 of every hundred marriages in the UK: Between 40% and 45% of murdered women are killed by their male partners; Between 1 and 2 women are murdered by their male partners every week; More that 25% of all violent crime repeated to the police is domestic violence of men against women, making it the second most common violent crime. (Hague & Malos 1993)

§ 100,000 women per year seek treatment on London for violent injuries received in the home (Punching Judy, BBC1 TV Programme 1989)

§ 30,000 women and children stay in refuges in the UK every year; In Wolverhampton, 1 in 6 women had suffered some form of domestic abuse; One quarter of all assaults are in domestic circumstances (Domestic Violence – Report of an Inter-Agency Working Party 1992)

§ In Edinburgh Scotland out of 3020 cases of violence reported to the police, three quarters of those were wife assault.

These figures from all over the country are only the reported cases of abuse.

So we can see that domestic abuse makes up a very large proportion of what cases the police are dealing with. But how affective are the policies in place for victims and attackers at the moment.

The Home Office issued a circular on Inter-Agency co-ordination on domestic violence in 1995. This was issued to relevant public agencies such as the police and social services. The recommendations included the need for refuge involvement in Inter-Agency co-ordination, which is widely accepted as essential. Refuges are at the forefront of domestic abuse. They are the ones who see what domestic abuse can do to a woman and her children first hand. They are uniquely able to monitor the impact of the entire policy framework (housing, benefits, civil and criminal law, police practice etc) on women and children in the middle of the war zone of domestic abuse. Inter-Agency projects involved many agencies including Women’s Aid, other women’s community organisations, police, local authority, probation, Crown prosecution, Victim Support, Health services and solicitors. In January 1995 there were at least 79 established inter agency projects that had been in existence for more than a year, at least 25 projects that were more or less established and had been in existence for more than 6 months, and at least 55 projects in the process of setting up. (Hague and Malos 1995)

In 1990 the Home Office issues a circular (C/60/90) to all police forces requiring them to develop an effective response to domestic violence. Since then many police forces have set up Domestic Violence Units to respond to victims and assist them in pursuing criminal prosecution, civil protection measures or moving them to a refuge or other place of safety.

So is the State doing anything to protect women from violence within the home? The Violence against Women Initiative is part of the £250 million Crime Reduction Programme which the Home Secretary announced in the summer of 1998. The CRP is evidence led programme that aims to reverse the long-term rise in crime by identifying and piloting a range of cost effective approaches to reducing crime. £6.3 million has been made available to local agencies/multi-agency partnerships to develop and implement local strategies for reducing two types of violence experienced by women: Domestic Violence and Rape and sexual assault by known perpetrators. Now at least the state is actually admitting that domestic violence is something that cannot be kept swept under the carpet any longer.

The 1993 Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) Report on Domestic Violence has helped to bring domestic abuse out into the open. It findings noted that domestic violence is not limited to any particular class or social group as some approaches have. From April 1999 a new definition of domestic violence came into effect for use in police returns to the HMIC (her majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary). This definition was intended for statistical purposes only, and was designed to allow easier comparison of domestic violence statistics between police forces and to give a better understanding of the nature of information being collected. Organisation were encouraged to make their own definitions according to local needs and circumstances and Forces remain free to use whatever definition they wish for local record keeping. The definition reads:

“The term ‘domestic violence’ shall be understood to mean any violence between current or former partners in an intimate relationship, wherever and whatever it occurs. The violence may include physical, sexual, emotional or financial abuse”

This at least widens the goalposts when dealing with domestic abuse as before the police were reluctant to get involved within domestic disputes. Before, domestic violence was...

Barron et. al. 1992 WAFE Evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee Enquiry into Domestic Violence Bristol: WAFE
Woman’s Aid Federation (England) Report 1992
Hague & Malos 1995 Against Domestic Violence: Inter Agency Initiatives Bristol SAUS
Punching Judy BBC Television Programme 1989
Domestic Violence – Report of an Inter Agency Working Party 1992
Mooney J 1994 The Hidden Figures: Domestic Violence in North London London Islington Police & Crime Unit
Inter-Agency Circular; Inter Agency Co-Ordination to Tackle Domestic Violence Home Office, 1995
Grace S 1995 Policing Domestic Violence in the 1990’s Home Office Research Study
British Crime Survey 1996 The Home Office
Dobash/Dobash/Cavanagh/Lewis 1996 Research Evaluation of Programmes for violent Men Scottish Office Central Research Unit
Dobash/Dobash/Cavangh/Lewis 1996 Re-Education Programmes for Violent men – an Evaluation Home Office Research Findings No 46
Domestic Violence & Repeat Victimisation Home Office Police Research Briefing Note No 1/98
The Family Law Act Part IV 1996 You should cite this paper as follows:

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