Gender Based Violence Conference

The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines violence against women as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. In practice, violence against women and GBV, are terms used interchangeably to describe violence and other harmful acts directed at women. The Council of Europe, Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) acknowledges that such actions, rooted in gender inequality and abuses of power, both violate human rights and discriminate against women.

GBV is a phenomenon which affects women in rich and poor countries, and across all sectors of society. Worldwide 35% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, 7% of women have been sexually assaulted by someone who is not their partner, whilst 38% of murders of women are committed by intimate partners (World Bank, 2019). The UK Government suggests in its 2021 Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic abuse (with more than 27% of women having experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16 compared to 14% of men), 1 in 5 women will be subjected to actual or attempted sexual assault in their lifetime (5% of victims are men), and 1 in 5 women will be the victim of stalking (20% of women compared to 10% of men). This is despite the plethora of policies and initiatives that have been developed, at national, regional and international level over the past thirty years designed to prevent such behaviours.

Jennifer Nedelsky suggests in her book “Law’s Relations” (2012), that ‘violence against women and children is so widespread that it cannot properly be understood simply as a matter of individual pathology or criminality or wickedness. It is a characteristic of our society.’ She argues that a relational approach is the best way to tackle the failures of existing legal regimes for addressing violence against women. She contends that ‘violence against women cannot be prevented until the relations between men and women are transformed—which means that transformation of these social and intimate relations must be an objective of the liberal state.’ She suggests ‘what is required to end violence against women is, ultimately, a transformation of the relations between men and women.’

It is a dramatic transformation of the male-female relationship, and a rebalancing of power in favour of women that is at the heart of the 2022 novel, “After Dark”, written by Jayne Cowie. “After Dark” offers a radical vision for an alternative world, where violence against women is a thing of the past, where all males aged 10 and older are subject to curfew, from 7pm to 7am. Electronically tagged, it is impossible for them to venture forth at night; if they do, they face imprisonment. Evenings and early mornings have become a time for women to enjoy the outside world, to go jogging, to socialise, to walk home from a cafe, bar or nightclub alone. Violent crime rates have plummeted. In the home, domestic abuse rates have similarly dropped; couples are not permitted to cohabit until they have received counselling and their relationship has been vetted, to ensure the risks of domestic abuse are minimised.

At first glance the legal remedies “After Dark” envisages seem far too radical. Section 37 Domestic Abuse Act 2021, however, already enables a court making a domestic abuse protection notice to impose an electronic monitoring requirement (tagging) upon domestic abuse perpetrators. “After Dark” also clearly reflects the concerns many are now expressing about the safety of women in public, concerns that have become heightened following the recent murders of a number of women including Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa in London and Ashling Murphy in Ireland. The merits of curfews for men are, furthermore, now part of the debates regarding GBV now being played out in the mainstream media. As such, we believe that this book and this event is likely to be of interest to academics, students, legal practitioners and professionals working in the area of GBV. We believe that using this book as a focal point for a multi-disciplinary discussion would be an excellent and different way to stimulate new debates about how society and the law should respond to tragedies such as the deaths of Sarah Everard and Ashling Murphy but also to the issue of gender-based violence within the home.

The seminar, funded by the Society of Legal Scholars Small Events and Projects Fund, aims to:

• To bring together academics, legal practitioners and professionals working in the area of GBV using the novel “After Dark” as a focal point to facilitate a multi-disciplinary dialogue on this topical area.
• To support masters and postgraduate students from within and outside the law in the development of knowledge and critical approaches to the study of GBV and the law.
• To further encourage interest from undergraduate and postgraduate students already undertaking or keen to undertake research in this and related areas of family law and criminal justice.
• To encourage new learners through the dissemination of the activities to lecturers teaching relevant modules as part of a Law School curriculum.

The event will critically explore current legal responses to GBV both in the home and in public. It will use narrative fiction, specifically the novel “After Dark” which envisages a very radical alternative legal framework for tackling domestic violence, to prompt discussion of how the law should respond to GBV (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1443377/after-dark/9781529156768.html). Should you wish to receive a free copy of this ebook we ask that you note this in your registration and ensure that email details are provided. Please note that we will only be taking orders for books until 31 October, to provide all delegates ample time to read the book before the event.