Violence against women is still on the rise
August 6th, 2010 by Elisabeth Fischer Posted in Crime, Equality, Gender, Violence against WomenWhen the Home Office published its latest British Crime Survey in July this year, everyone was dazzled by the surprisingly good-looking figures. Crime went down by 43% since 1997, and fell by 9% last year to its lowest level since 1981.
However, no one thought to draw attention to the sexual offences figures, and it’s no wonder why. 54,509 sexual offences were recorded by the police over the past 12 months, a 6% increase compared to the previous year. Of course there are also male victims of sexual offences, but in reality they are predominantly targeted at women and children, those who are the most vulnerable to attackers.
Moreover, the Home Office’s chief statistician David Blunt acknowledged in a statement to the Guardian newspaper that the survey did not cover some of the more serious violent crimes – such as rape and sexual assault. He said that the gaps in coverage did not affect the overall trend. That figures showing levels of violence against women were seen as superfluous by some is depressing in itself.
Violence against women is in fact still on the rise, as other national and international figures show:
- Amnesty International reports that 167 women are raped everyday in the UK, but only one in five attacks is reported to the police.
- One woman in four will experience domestic violence at some point in her life and two are murdered every week by a partner or ex-partner.
- One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute.
The cruel list goes on: more than 20,000 girls could be at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK and according to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, 7,250 cases of forced marriage are reported each year.
Cases of trafficking of women and children can be added to this record. All in all, the UK taxpayer has to bear the cost of £23 billion of domestic violence per year.
Tackling violence against women should be part of the daily agenda of the government and police. The Million Women Rise coalition believes that male violence against women and children is a global pandemic and that it includes a serious violation of human rights on a more or less constant basis. That is precisely why Million Women Rise organise a march each year, to call for an end to violence against women and to give the survivors of that violence a voice. Eight thousand women and children marched this year through central London whistling, shouting and singing “One woman, One song, One body, One love”. Even without the statistics proving our point, this alone is a clear sign that violence against women is a problem that needs to be dealt now.
For more information on Million Women Rise, including details of next years’ march, please see www.millionwomenrise.com
5 Responses to “Violence against women is still on the rise”
By Al on Aug 10, 2010
Astonishing and horrible statistics, but valuable to know I think.
By Craig Osborne on Aug 10, 2010
I think this is an interesting article but I just don’t think it goes far enough…
I believe it is important to remember that all violent crime is on the rise in the UK and this includes violence between male-female relationships where either sex is the perpetrator is still rising. Though the article recognises this statistic it downplays it as being seemingly not as important just by its lower statistical average. If one in five attacks are not reported on Male to Female violence, how much of female to male goes unreported or even consciously considered as being domestic violence?
And indeed even between male-male and female-female relationships, they have all seen a significant rise in violent incidents, something which this article does not cover.
I therefore think it is important that society learns to tackle the general attitudes towards domestic violence as much as the causes.
Also it is worth considering that the article is discussing a variety of issues here which need further exploration. Under the umbrella of domestic violence towards women the article also includes children, which to me needs to be a separate argument to highlight these issues. Though my understanding of the cycle of abuse in a domestic relationship will often involve the abuse of children as the ‘dominant’ partner asserts control over the household unit I do not think it goes far enough.
Forced Marriages, Female Genital Mutilation and Trafficking of women and children are not just domestic violence issues but are so much more imbedded in cultural, religious and economic violations towards women but are sometimes outside of the UK jurisdiction and need further recognition as separate issues on a global level and require so much more investigating and development in terms of support.
It reminds me of a current petition recently that was arguing that with the government cuts in public spending and local government departments this will further increase the general poverty of women in the UK because they make up something like two thirds of public sector workers. Something the Government (and definitely not Theresa May) probably even considered. Even on such a basic level rights of women are being ignored and/or unchallenged significantly.
Good Article though. It’s certainly got me thinking….
By serena on Jan 26, 2011
The information in that article is superior, I do however believe to be true with regards to violence as a whole. coming from a Asian community its always assumed that men are the perpetrators, however that is not always the case, there are male individuals out there who are victimized by female relationship i.e. wife who when are brought on visa from home lands want all their child benefit money as well as husbands salary to be sent to their family fraud business, and when the husband does not comply, then unexpectedly the wife claims abuse, takes away the children to a unknown place and the husband is left with a big question mark and to be known as a “a bad person” with nothing to back that up. Now when he phones the police or social services to find out how his children are getting on, he is told he cannot be helped. Apparently there are no services for men, the only way ahead is through court.
Where is the justice in that??????
The heartbreaking item in this situation is for the children, how will all of this affect their future? Children bond with their mothers at first but then they also create a care and support bond with fathers too why is it always undermine?
I’m not at all accounting for the population of male in this world, women are the core victims of violence in many situations and I feel for them.
However I do suggest there are certain individuals out there who taken advantage of the services offered for that females who need it, not the females who want money.
By Mary on Apr 21, 2011
Violence against women is a growing issue in the United States. There are some excellent organizations working to help young women in need. Vista Maria for example, is a leading crusader to curtail violence against women. They are an excellent resource and can be very helpful for young women dealing with these issues.