Dr Rebecca Shaw calls for a new approach to domestic violence in Government inquiry
Dr Shaw has submitted written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into Violence Against Women and Girls.
One in five women in their lifetime are estimated to be victims of sexual assault or attempted assault. One in twelve are reported to be victims of violence against women and girls (VAWG) annually. The true figure is likely to be much higher.
The Public Accounts Committee have been scrutinising Government efforts to tackle VAWG, following a damning report from the National Audit Office on the same issue. The inquiry invited written evidence from experts in this field, and Dr Rebecca Shaw answered the call.
Changing perceptions of domestic abuse
Dr Rebecca Shaw’s evidence focused on the harmful narratives surrounding domestic abuse. Her submission was based on her ESRC-funded project, ‘Domestic abuse service providers and their stories’. The project investigated how the stories around domestic abuse can prevent change, and aimed to:
- Assess current front line DA support workers’ perceptions of the dominant, harmful narratives around domestic abuse (DA) and identify what kinds of narratives persist in preventing change.
- Identify potential strategies for practically changing the narrative of domestic abuse.
Front line support workers cited the significance of harmful narratives in driving a continued lack of understanding about DA. This in turn creates barriers to support, impacting upon service provision, and negatively forming part of a wider societal response to domestic abuse. The project concluded that to change perceptions of DA, educating children is key to break the cycle and avoid the continued reproduction of these harmful narratives.
Dr Shaw, therefore, believes that there needs to be a greater focus on challenging harmful narratives around domestic abuse as part of an innovative approach to prevention of VAWG. In her statement she emphasised how crucial it is that children are educated about the nature of domestic abuse to improve understanding and awareness. She urges the Government to embed her educational resource nationally into the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSE) curriculum to drive long-term changes in attitudes to domestic abuse.
She says:
I am proud to have submitted evidence to the recent Public Accounts Committee on Tackling VAWG, responding specifically to prioritising prevention and understanding the need to change perceptions of domestic abuse. I hope the Government recognises how harmful narratives, and the perception of domestic abuse they communicate, serve as a significant barrier to prevention activities and delivering long-term cultural and societal change around domestic abuse.
Dr Shaw is a member of both the Centre for Law and Social Justice and the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies. She is also Deputy Lead (with Dr Anna Barker) of the Feminist Research into Violence and Abuse (FRIVA) network at the University of Leeds. FRIVA has over 50 academic members who work to improve the lives of women and marginalised groups.
