Back to our roots and into the 21 st century: why gender and feminism matter in responses to VAWG

1. Back to our roots and into the 21st century: why gender and feminism matter in responses to VAWG Prof Liz Kelly Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit London Metropolitan University NE SV Conference November 2012

2. Reflections and challenges • Almost 40 years as a feminist • Most working on VAWG • Importance of roots, principles and change • Ideas that motivate and challenge me • Am not standing outside, but include myself in the questions and tensions

3. Feminisms and feminists • Minimal definition: understanding women’s subordination in order to change it – theory and practice • Not one but many • The diversity of ‘us’ • In multiple spaces and locations • Have always been argumentative • Need to dare to ask hard questions, to know the uncomfortable • New and old - ideas and practices • More reflexive? • Still ‘in movement’? • Some of us now have positions of influence • What is feminist integrity? • How do we use the power we have?

4. The second wave - 1970s • Re-discovery of VAW • Telling our own stories, naming and speaking, questioning shame and self-blame, • The personal as political – crimes of dominion/power • Creativity, vision, optimism • Creating what did not exist – services that supported and believed women • New ways of organising – anti-hierarchy, activism • A ‘we’ – violence affects all women, inviting women we supported to join movement

6. Gender analysis and VAW • Disproportionality in victimisation and offending • Perpetrators usually known men • Violence as the exercise of power and control • Over our bodies and our sense of self and safety • Constructs masculinity and femininity • Female offenders – access to more limited forms of power • Not exceptional – everyday/everynight • ‘safety work’ in our everyday routines • Inadequate and inconsistent institutional responses linked to the lower status of women and girls • Impunity

7. VAW and women’s inequality • UN ‘a cause and consequence’ of women’s inequality • Limits our ‘space for action’ – in public space, workplaces, families • Lost opportunities and projects • Symbolic meanings • Worth less than men and other women – ‘spoiled identities’ • Barriers to disclosure, under-reporting • Harms - to sense of self, safety in world and connections to others • Betrayals of trust, breaking social connections • Survival and coping strategies • ‘violence work’ that victim-survivors have to do just to ‘get by’, let alone rebuild their lives • Trajectories for many into drug misuse, criminality, mental health problems and suicide

8. VAW and women’s equality • The crucial thing is the structure of society – the fact that a woman cannot drive or travel without authorisation, for example – gives a special sense of strength to the man, and this strength is directly connected to the violence. It creates a sense of immunity, that he can do whatever he wants, without sanction. Rania al Baz, 2005

9. Naming and speaking • feminism is concerned with finding a voice, …[with] working against cultural exclusion (Linda Gordon) • ‘Bringing into language’ • Listening and beginning from women • Early challenges about who speaks/is heard – race, class, sexuality – disability and age came later

10. The complexity of speaking out/silence • In many countries violence and abuse is no longer ‘unspeakable’ • Some forms of violence are more ‘speakable’ than others • Some women have more possibilities to speak • BUT when women and children tell, safety and support for them and sanctions for perpetrators are not always forthcoming • AND in some contexts speaking can create further danger/ potential for harm • honour based violence • sexual violence in conflict May choose silence or be silenced

11. Listening to women • ‘When you want help you don’t want to be bombarded with bruised women, it makes you feel even more dirty and horrible about yourself’ • ‘We need public education with more Black and Asian women. If you don’t see yourself , you don’t relate to it’ • ‘It’s about lifting the lid, not to be ashamed’

12. Problematic imagery

13. The 21st century

14. Changed discourses • VAW or GBV → ‘hate crime’, ‘interpersonal violence’ • Loss of gender and power analysis • Discrimination/inequalities → ‘disadvantage or ‘vulnerability’ • Loss of intersectional analysis • Telling/speaking → ‘disclosure’ • Shifts focus from agency of woman to agency response • Victimisation → ‘victimhood’ • From a material reality to a stigmatised identity • For professionals being a survivor is no longer a resource but a weakness Language can change what we know and speak

15. Unintended consequences • Success in placing VAW on national and international policy agendas BUT • Dominance of domestic violence - and shift to family violence • Domestic violence as crime incidents rather than pattern of coercive control (including in prevalence studies) • The neglect of sexual violence and sexual harassment • Culturalising of harmful practices • Marginalisation of gender analysis • Funding of services has improved quality and distribution • Emphasis on standards and policies eclipsed engaging with women? • Making states responsible, embracing multi-agency • Tempered feminist voices? • Who sets the agenda?

16. Who is silencing who, about what? • Which women can speak about what kinds of violence? • How is what they say heard and responded to? • How do we maintain feminist voices and perspectives? • Within women’s services • In multi agency contexts • Where are the voices of resistance? • Importance of young women, survivors forums, blogs, Twitter – naming misogyny and sexism

17. Neo-liberal agendas • The current context we have to work in • But need critical awareness not just adaption • From women’s safety and needs to the language of rationing and risk • Do we accept in principle that support needs to be limited as are ‘too many cases’? • Whose assessment of risk counts? • New public management • Measurement and ‘outcomes’ • ‘Evidence’ based policy – what counts as evidence? • How many ‘anecdotes’ does it take to become data? • Costs of violence - public purse rather than women’s lives

18. Knowledge claims • Mossman et al 2009 – New Zealand review of sexual violence services • Three framings to establish • Proven effective through research evidence • Practice reflecting current trends • ‘Knowledge based practice’ which recognises skilled practitioners and experiences of survivors (pxi) • Women’s organisations should claim and value knowledge based evidence

19. What women want • Focus groups with 300 diverse women as part of consultation for Westminster government VAWG strategy in 2009 • Even though not asked directly many referred to importance of women only services • What women valued was – safety, holistic support, when and for as long as they need it • Want better statutory responses AND women’s services Huge challenge to maintain what we have built

20. Susan Brison • I develop and defend a view of the self as fundamentally relational – capable of being undone by violence. But also of being remade in connection to others... Learning to fight back is a crucial part of this process, not only because it enables us to experience justified, healing rage... the confidence I gained from learning to fight back not only enabled me to walk down the street again, it gave me back my life... a changed life, a paradoxical life. (Aftermath, 2002, pxi)

21. The whole place self • From Fiona Elvines MA dissertation, • Rape Crisis Centres - standing alongside and working with women • To rebuild a self fragmented by violence • Active participants in exploring what violence meant and means for their whole selves – not just a story of abuse, a collection of effects • The ‘relational self’ • Women only – who women can relate to/with • Create new meanings ‘in conversation’ • Rebuilding the self • Empowerment as extending women’s space for action, including the power to speak out, resist, be part of a collective movement against sexual violence and for women’s equality

22. Challenges • Need feminisms for the 21st century • Renew and reclaim • Gender theory and intersectionality • Respectful relationships in the VAW sector • Space for debate, disagreement, change • ‘Practicing solidarity’ (Mohanty, 2003) • Actively committing ourselves to ‘listen louder’ to victim-survivors • Must be a critical voice so long as violence and impunity continue

23. At the same time • Htun & Weldon 2012 • Datasets for 70 countries over 4 decades • It is strong autonomous feminist movements that have • Challenged social norms on male dominance in the family, sexuality and more broadly • Changed international norms on VAW • Produced enduring impacts at national policy levels • Through a focus on ‘everyday politics’