UK: Making the Grade? The second annual independent analysis of Government initiatives on violence against women

[LONDON, 23 November 2006] - The UK-based End Violence Against Women Campaign today publishes a damning new report revealing that one year after the first independent assessment of government efforts to join up work on violence against women in the UK, there is still a failure to ensure that women are safe.

With high levels of violence against women in the UK, the EVAW Campaign's report has awarded the Government an overall score of just two out of ten, a small improvement on last year's score of one out of ten.

Following the publication of last year's assessment, Tony Blair responded by predicting that a fresh assessment in a year's time would show 'considerable and sustained improvements'. Whilst some departments, particularly the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office, score well, the new report finds little progress overall and the good work being done in some areas, is being undermined by the lack of a strategy. There is a continuing lack of cross-department working, inadequate resources and a lack of measurable targets. These failures continue despite the enormous costs to government and society.

Almost half of adult women in England and Wales have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. One in four women in England and Wales experience at least one incident of domestic violence during their lives, a crime which has the highest rate of repeat victimisation of all crimes. The reporting rate for rape continues to rise, whilst the conviction rate, at just 5.3 per cent, is now at the lowest level for 30 years for England and Wales and amongst the lowest across Europe. Approximately 85 per cent of forced marriage cases dealt with by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office involve female victims. It is estimated that 74,000 women in the UK have undergone female genital mutilation and 7,000 girls under the age of 16 are at risk.

The report is calling for the Department for Communities and Local Government to lead the development of a cross-government strategy on violence against women. The Department, which leads the Government's work on equality and social justice, scored just two out of ten in this year's report.

Key findings of the report are:

• Across government departments work on violence against women is 'patchy' and not joined up. There is little evidence of work between government departments resulting in a failure to share vital information
• Many parts of government still perceive violence against women as limited to domestic violence, resulting in a failure to develop policies and provide resources for other forms of violence, including rape and sexual assault, forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM)
• Services for victims are seriously under-funded and there is a post-code lottery facing women who need support. The sector is increasingly fragile, for example in 1984 there were 68 women-only rape crisis centres or helplines compared with 32 in England and Wales today (6); FGM services are facing a major funding crisis
• No part of government has yet begun to address seriously the prevention of violence against women, for example there is minimal work with children and young people to challenge attitudes that tolerate violence against women.

The report concludes that the failure to adopt a strategic approach across government accounts for this dismal picture. This lack of joined up policy also means that connections are not being made with other existing high-profile government strategies, including those on social exclusion, drugs and alcohol, child poverty, anti-social behaviour and teen pregnancy.

End Violence Against Women Campaign Chair, Professor Liz Kelly, said: 'Every day in the first week of November the media carried reports of different cases where women and girls had either been killed or had committed suicide as a result of male violence. This bleak picture is hardly surprising considering the Government's failure to develop a more strategic approach to ending violence against women.

'Too many obstacles stand in the way of women needing support. There are many women who are living with the legacies of abuse and cannot get help following a sexual assault because there are no services in their area. Others trying to flee threats to kill them cannot get a place in a refuge because of their immigration status. Young people are still denied a curriculum within their school that encourages respectful relationships and, at secondary level, explores the meaning of sexual consent.'

The report does acknowledge that good work is being carried out, for example in the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office. However, many departments are still failing to grasp the key issues and take action and the opportunity to join work up is being missed. In the week that a poll showed that 42 per cent of young people know girls whose boyfriends have hit them, the score of one out of ten for the Department for Education and Skills is particularly concerning as it has a key role to play in providing information and options for young people. Yet Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) guidelines do not include violence against women and there is no systematic training for teachers on how to recognise the signs of violence.

Professor Liz Kelly added: 'Some major moves to tackle violence against women - such as reform of the sex offences law and funding the Poppy Project for trafficked women - have been key Government achievements. But fundamentally the approach remains one of mopping up the problem once it has occurred, rather than working to ensure that women no longer experience violence. How many more women need to die before we see a more strategic approach?'

The End Violence Against Women Campaign will continue to make an annual assessment of the Government's work to end all forms of violence against women, and hopes to see a radical improvement across the board in time for next year's report.

Further information

• Making the Grade? The second annual independent analysis of Government initiatives on violence against women
• Informations about the End Violence Against Women coalition
• UK: Government launches children's rights survey (November 2006)
• CRIN's news page on the UK

More about the EVAW Coalition

The End Violence Against Women Campaign (EVAW) is an unprecedented coalition of more than 50 women's and other organisations launched in November 2005 to campaign for an integrated strategy to end all forms of violence against women. Its members include Amnesty International UK, Agency for Change and Cultural Management (ACCM), Cardiff Women's Safety Unit, Central Scotland Racial Equality Council Ltd, Centre for Safety and Well-Being (SWELL) University of Warwick, the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, Eaves Housing for Women , Eaves Women's Aid, EVA Project Scotland, the Fawcett Society, FORWARD, HALT Domestic Violence, the Havens, Imkaan, Jewish Women's Aid, Lillith Project, the London Centre for Personal Safety, London Feminist Network, National Board of Catholic Women, National Federation of Women's Institutes, Northern Ireland Women's Aid, POPPY Project, Rape Crisis Belfast, Refuge, Refugee Women's Resource Project at Asylum Aid, Respect, Scottish Women's Aid, Southall Black Sisters, School for Policy Studies University of Bristol, South Essex Rape and Incest Crisis Centre, TUC, UK Disability Forum for European Affairs Women's Committee, UK Joint Committee on Women, Violence Against Women Research Group (Bristol University), Wales Women's National Coalition, Welsh Women's Aid, WOMANKIND Worldwide, Women's Aid Federation England, Women's Design Service, Women's National Commission, Women's Network of the Methodist Church and the Women's Resource Centre.