Via Cath Elliott, this is the new advert from Women’s Aid, campaigning for an end to domestic violence. Strong stuff, but absolutely needed. Well done Keira Knightley for taking part. From the Guardian:

I wanted to take part in this advert for Women’s Aid because while domestic violence exists in every section of society we rarely hear about it,” said Knightley. “Domestic violence affects one in four women at some point in their lifetime and kills two women every week.”

Anyone affected by domestic violence can (in the UK) call the Freephone 24 hr National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247

An opinion poll commissioned by the Home Office should be a powerful wake-up call on attitudes to violence against women.

Some of the headline findings have been reported in the press, but I would really suggest looking at the full poll results, which are much broader. (All the statistics refer to England & Wales.)

Continued…

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has rightly deplored the findings that over 100 local councils do not provide adequate support to victims of rape and domestic violence, and that it amounts to an undeclared war on women. Damn right it does. From The Guardian:

More than 100 councils will today be threatened with legal action over their failure to provide rape crisis centres and domestic violence support services, with a strongly worded warning issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Research reveals that one in four local authorities in Britain offer no specialised services for women who have faced violence or abuse, and shows that a quarter of those rape crisis centres that are still operating believe they will either have to close or radically cut services in 2009.

The findings, published jointly by the EHRC and the End Violence Against Women campaign, offer a stark illustration of the large areas of the country where there is now no provision at all.

The research shows that those services that do exist are losing their battle to secure long-term funding both from the state and from charitable sources. Trevor Phillips, chair of the EHRC, said: “In many parts of the country, services for women who have experienced violence are chronically underfunded or simply do not exist. Women shouldn’t be subjected to this postcode lottery.

“Urgent action is needed to provide funding and support to ensure that all women can get help whenever they need it – wherever they live.”

The Local Government Association are covering their backsides by saying that the findings are “alarmist”. Well yes, and so they should be. Do I have to say AGAIN that rape and domestic violence is the biggest cause of death to women in the world?

The LGA say that taking legal action won’t do anything to change the situation. Perhaps that is true. But publicising the fact that thousands of women do not receive any support from their local government can only help to change things. So let’s keep talking about it.

Help for rape victims can also be found via Rape Crisis and Rape Crisis Scotland.

In it she states that she believes that domestic violence will increase as the recession takes hold:

“When families go through difficulties, if someone loses their job, or they have financial problems, it can escalate stress, and lead to alcohol or drug abuse. Quite often violence can flow from that.”

Scotland is also adamant that domestic violence is an economic issue, “In the future what the real wealth of all our nations is going to depend on is the talent, ability and skills of our people,” she says. “Domestic violence is a ‘disabler’ of that talent. In all areas of dysfunction there is an overrepresentation of children who have grown up in domestic violence situations. They are less likely to thrive. If we don’t remove this depressant on our ability, then our opportunity to compete on the global stage is going to be diminished.”

It’s a vicious circle, she says – some of the blame for the recession itself can be attributed to the lack of gender balance in the financial sector. “It’s been really interesting during the credit crunch to look at the businesses which have the advantage of a male-female leadership, and whether those businesses have taken inappropriate, or appropriate risks,” she says. “The data indicates that where you’ve got that gender balance, the risk-taking has been sound and much more proportionate.”

But, Scotland says, the focus needs to shift away from domestic violence as a problem affecting only the poor or obviously dysfunctional. She tells the story of how, on a trip to Paris to discuss domestic violence with the French government, she and two other women from the French ministry were talking to a journalist. “We were saying how one in four women are affected by domestic violence, which means it could have been one of us,” she says. “And at the end of the interview the journalist said, ‘Yes, you’re right – it’s me.’

“The more advantaged the person, the less likely they are to disclose that they are being abused because of the lack of sense of worth that gives them. For a managing director, or a surgeon, to tell somebody they are being beaten by their partner is a very lowering thing.”

You can read the rest of the interview here.