Worried about closures of refuges for ethnic minority women & rape crisis centres?
Falling conviction rates?
Girls in your community forced into marriage?

The New Gender Equality Duty - Putting Violence Against Women On The Agenda

Get ready for the most radical change to sex discrimination law in 30 years! Hot on the heals of similar laws on race and disability, the new Gender Equality Duty comes into force from April 2007 and now is the time to make sure that Violence Against Women (VAW) is on the agenda where you live.

What's the problem?

VAW includes rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual harassment, stalking, trafficking, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and crimes in the name of honour. Almost half of women in England & Wales experience domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking during their lifetime (1). At a local level there are serious problems:

Convictions for rape in England and Wales are at a 30-year low and there are huge regional variations. In 2004 the conviction rate ranged from 0.86% in one police area to 13.79% in another ( 2).
Today there are half the number of rape crisis services as there were in 1984 (3).

Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, calls VAW "perhaps the most shameful human rights violation". It is both a cause and consequence of women's inequality and can have a devastating impact on individual victims, affecting their mental and physical health, as well as employment and educational opportunities. But it is also a serious problem for society more broadly; government research puts the cost of domestic violence in England and Wales alone at Ł23 billion a year (4).

What is the Gender Equality Duty (GED)?

The GED (5) will, for the first time, mean that public bodies in England, Wales and Scotland must show that they are taking active steps to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment and promote equality between women and men. This is known as the 'general duty' and will apply to some voluntary and private organisations as well (6). Many public bodies (including local councils, NHS Trusts, police forces and schools) will also have specific duties such as assessing the different impact of policies on women and men and publishing Gender Equality Schemes by 30th April 2007. The Schemes must set out objectives, focusing on the most serious forms of gender inequality, and say what action will be taken to meet their objectives (7).

How can the GED address VAW?

Here are just some of the ways that the new law can help address VAW:

Local authorities will need to consider the different impact of funding decisions on women and men. E.g. if a council cuts the funding of a rape crisis centre, will this have a greater negative impact on women than men? If so, it may be difficult to justify.
Young people live in an environment where there are high levels of VAW (8). Schools, colleges and universities will need to consider how they can support students who are victims of gender-based violence. PSHE (9) could play a crucial role in prevention e.g. looking at issues around consent to sex or identifying patterns of forced marriage and combating them.
The CPS and the Metropolitan Police are considering joining up policies on VAW. Other criminal justice agencies and social services should do the same so that the links between rape, stalking, domestic violence and child sexual abuse are understood.
The health-related cost of each rape case is estimated at Ł73,487 (10). Local health services need to recognise the extent to which VAW is a factor in women's physical and mental ill-health, teenage pregnancy, and substance misuse and develop policies to address this.

Remember - in order to make VAW a priority, public bodies will need to have an accurate picture of the levels and impact of VAW locally. The GED requires public bodies to collect information that is broken down by gender and consult with stakeholders in order to set their objectives.

What Can You Do To Put Vaw On The Agenda?

Set up a local group of activists who meet regularly to campaign on violence against women. Build an alliance in your area of women's groups, Amnesty activists, trade unions and Women's Institute.
Make sure services respond to the needs of all women in the community: A Race Equality Duty and Disability Equality Duty are already in force. Make sure public bodies work with the equality duties together so that they meet the needs of ethnic minority and disabled women.
Provide evidence on VAW: Contact local services and voluntary organisations - such as rape crisis centres and domestic violence services - to collect information about VAW locally. Use local crime statistics to show how essential single sex services are. The GED requires real action on real issue - show public bodies the scale, scope and cost of VAW so they have to take action!
Highlight gaps in services: Are local services adequate? E.g. what is the ratio of demand for the service to the need and how long are waiting lists? Is there a rape crisis centre? Does your police force have a specialist rape team and automatic access to women doctors for examinations? Are there specialist services for ethnic minority women and disabled women?
Help develop Gender Equality Schemes: Ask key public bodies - local authorities, police, health, schools - who they are consulting and how VAW will be prioritised in their Schemes. What objectives are there on reducing VAW? What evidence is used to decide gender equality objectives? The GED requires public bodies to consult on their scheme and objectives - make your voice heard!
Monitor Gender Equality Schemes: Once published, Schemes need to be monitored to make sure they are working in practice. They last for 3 years but must be reviewed annually. If you think a public body is not meeting its obligations under the GED raise this with them, or with the relevant inspectorate (11) or the EOC which enforces the duty.
Be consulted on gender impact assessments: Many public bodies have to carry out gender impact assessments on all active and new policies and services including funding decisions and employment policies. Ask to see them and make sure decisions are based on fact and they've looked at the impact on women. Be consulted!
Will the gender equality duty affect you? If you are a service provider or have a contract with the Government, you may have responsibilities under the gender equality duty. Check the EOC guidance for the voluntary sector, to be released in February, about the impact of the duty on your organisation.

Want To Know More?

http://www.eoc.org.uk

http://www.cwasu.org

http://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk

http://www.thewnc.org.uk/pubs/makingthegrade2006.pdf

Footnotes:

S Walby and J Allen Domestic Violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey, Home Office 2004

Home Office (2005) unpublished data.

Women's Resource Centre, Crisis in Rape Crisis, October 2006

S Walby, The Cost of Domestic Violence, DT, 2004

The Gender Equality Duty is contained in the Equality Act 2006

A public body or public authority is defined in the Act as 'any person who has functions of a public nature'

A Code of Practice for Great Britain sets out further details and can be found on the EOC website at http://www.eoc.org.uk. There will be a separate Code of Practice for devolved bodies in Scotland.

Findings of an ICM poll for EVAW published in November 2006

Personal Social and Health Education

A Home Office Report - The Economic and social costs of crime against individuals and households 2003-04

For example, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary inspects police forces in England and Wales

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