It is better sometimes not to know certain statistics. Or pretend perhaps that they don’t exist. On average two woman in England and Wales are killed each week by a current or former male partner, that is someone who “loves” them or has claimed to in the past. An incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute according to Women’s Aid. On average a women experiences “35 incidents of domestic violence” before ever going to the police.
There are more horrifying figures about the number of young children who witness this or the number of young women who now think that being hit by their boyfriends is simply part of a “normal relationship”. An epidemic of violence against women is the backdrop to how we live. Sticking the word domestic in front of the word violence does not make this a private or personalised matter, it is a social evil – and yes there are male victims too.
The Labour MP Jess Phillps rose in the House of Commons on International Women’s Day to read out the names of the 120 women who had been killed in the past year, explaining: “In 2015 a woman was murdered in the UK every three days.” The house was sombre.
Yvette Cooper has also campaigned tirelessly on the issue, telling Theresa May when she was home secretary that she needed to do more. May then told the Police Federation that it was letting down victims because of the falling numbers of prosecutions and convictions. Instead community resolutions are being used to settle domestic violence cases out of court. This means that violence against women is being put on a par with small thefts and vandalism. It may end up with the police taking the abuser home to “apologise”.
Refuges exist so that women and children can get away from such apologies. They provide shelter and support for women to help rebuild their lives. Right now two-thirds of those in England are under threat of closure because of changes to the way housing benefit is paid. There have been warnings of this situation since George Osborne’s last autumn statement. The sector is already under-resourced and is hardly considered a “sexy” kind of charity. Since 2010, 17% of refuges have been cut. There has not been a 17% cut in violence, far from it.
So while we have had more legislation around coercive and controlling behaviour there are fewer places for women to turn to in a crisis. Refuges offer more than shelter – they also help women to get out of a pattern of bad relationships and make new lives.
Currently the Department for Work and Pensions is deferring the “reform” until 2018 to conduct a review into funding for such “supported housing”. Women’s Aid relies on this housing benefit and cannot function without it. There is no sign that violence against women is being “deferred” and the police are overwhelmed at the amount being reported. If we consider women and children to be human then this is surely a human rights issue.
As Julie Walters, patron of Women’s Aid, says: “Refuges save lives: it’s as simple as that.” Does the government want to live with consequences of them closing down? Do any of us?
