THREAD to mark UN International day to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen which is today, 25th November, as per UN resolution 54/134. This is the date on which, in 1960, the Mirabal sisters, Dominican Republic activists, were murdered on the order of the Dominican Leader.
2. Why is International Day to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen women still needed? 49 countries have no laws against any violence in a marital/intimate relationship (also known as domestic abuse/violence). In 37, rapists escape prosecution if married to or eventually marry the victim
3. Across the world, including in the UK, women who are killed are more likely to be killed by partner, ex-partner or family member than any other category of person. In UK, two women per week are killed by partner or ex.
4. Worldwide, 1 in 3 women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes, usually from an intimate partner. 71% of victims of human trafficking are women, most are trafficked for sexual exploitation
4. Before I became an MP in 2015, I was originally trained as a classical cellist, and did perform, but mostly spent 26 years in work to help #EndViolenceAgainstWomen - locally, nationally and internationally. I’ve taken this knowledge to Westminster to try to do more.
5. Before I became an MP, I spent 26 years in work to #endviolenceagainstwomen - in a refuge for young Asian women, at @womensaid as National Children's Officer, setting up support for children affected by domestic violence, then as trainer/researcher & in prevention work with YP
@womensaid 6. For the 10 years from 2005 - 15 I was doing work with and about perpetrators of domestic violence, as practitioner at @DViP_UK and at @RespectUK
as trainer, research manager and co-creator of the national accreditation and inspection system for work with perpetrators
as trainer, research manager and co-creator of the national accreditation and inspection system for work with perpetrators
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK 7. work with and about perpetrators of intimate partner violence is often uncomfortable, challenging and risky. But it's also vital it we want to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen - we have to change perpetrator behaviour and the underlying attitudes and belief systems underpinning this
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK 8. work with perpetrators to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen needs to aim to increase safety of women &children, & reduce/manage risk. It can use techniques from, but should not just be,counselling, anger management, or drug/alcohol treatment. These can help but they're not enough
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK 9. violence against women is both a cause and a consequence of inequalities. Women financially dependent on a male partner find it harder to leave if he's abusive. Women often self-limit where/when to go out or what to wear, because of fear of rape/sexual assault
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK 10. I'm in awe of and in debt to so many women who've inspired, challenged, taught and encouraged me to do more, work harder, question further, not accept the status quo - many of them in the movement to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK 11. the wonderful @ProfLizKelly taught me that sticking with the status quo through inaction in a situation in inequality means siding with the powerful - it's a choice. She's challenged, taught and inspired me and generations of women.
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly 12. My former boss (who doesn't like me calling her that, but she was a fantastic boss) and friend @JoTodd4 taught me how working with perpetrators contributes to women's safety, not just if they change, but because of the information gained for risk management
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 The late great Ellen Pence, from Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, provided enduring/ helpful conceptual/practical tools for ending domestic abuse, such as the power and control wheels. Inspired 1000s of activists and protected 10s of 1000s women worldwide thru her work
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 14. Ellen Pence taught me to get up every morning and chip away at whatever particular bit of the mountain of inequality and oppression I could, not get daunted by its size. That's how we keep trying to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 15. Whilst I worked at @womensaid National Office England in 1990s, all political parties were developing policies on domestic violence. It was an interesting time. It was @UKLabour who had the pioneering women MPs - Jo Richardson, Jean Corston, @HarrietHarman And others
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman I learnt that activists alone can't #endviolenceagainstwomen and neither can Parliamentarians alone. It needs both, & practitioners, researchers & allies. But govts can make it harder by underfunding refuges, cutting police, squeezing women's incomes, not building enough homes
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 17. It's not just laws which need to change if we are to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen - Attitudes/beliefs about women &relationships need to change. Misogynist and sexist views still abound. The abusive men I worked with held views they used to justify/excuse their abusiveness
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 18. Defences for murders of women are telling - in the 1990s we used to hear about 'provocation' a lot. Now there are more mentioning defence of 'rough sex' which speaks to the influence of ever-more violent porn, sexualising violence in mainstream culture.
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 19. After the guilty verdict on Grace Millane's murderer last week it was depressing that some commentators spoke of it as a problem of women travelling alone or using dating sites or having particular sexual habits. This man used sexual and physical violence and he murdered her
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 20. Conceptualizing the murder of women as a problem of their own behaviour is illustration of the long-lasting nature of misogynist and sexist beliefs. These attitudes need to change at every level if we are to #endviolenceagainstwomen . I will always challenge them.
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 21. A few years ago I proposed an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill outlawing making pornography available online if those making it available knew or should have known someone involved was coerced, trafficked or forced, because I want to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 22. The amendment was to help raise awareness of the violence which takes place in pornography. It didnt pass and violent pornography is more widely available than ever. This is just one example of the pervasive presence of misogyny.
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 23. I founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on work with perpetrators to raise awareness in Parliament of what is and is not effective in responding to people, mostly men, who abuse their intimate partner. It's helped to inform the draft #DomesticAbuseBill
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 24. When women are abused, controlled and hurt, they suffer and their children suffer. Communities pay, in costs of criminal justice, health and social work responses and economic costs to women's employment. For everyone's sake we must #EndViolenceAgainstWomen And soon
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 25. Governments and councils need to follow the lead set by activists and champion equality but also lead with law reforms, funding and challenging attitudes. Including in Parliament.
If re-elected, the struggle to #Endviolenceagainstwomen will remain a high priority for me
If re-elected, the struggle to #Endviolenceagainstwomen will remain a high priority for me
@womensaid @DViP_UK @RespectUK @ProfLizKelly @JoTodd4 @UKLabour @HarrietHarman 26. Seeing few women, and few women of colour, in Parliament, was one of the reasons I ended up putting myself forward for selection&election. It's harder for politics to ignore us when we are there. I'm only the 408th woman ever to have been sworn in as an MP in UK Parliament.
