We like everyone are in awe of Gisele Pelicot and the incredible way she has spoken out and been heard in relation to the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband and many other men.
What we were left thinking about was the way that France responded to this, and couldn’t help but wonder if that would be different in the UK? It may be that this was so widely reported that there was pressure for the judicial system to respond proactively, but it could also be a cultural difference. In the UK we have had a number of grooming scandals which have taken years for those involved to achieve any justice, and it has taken whistle-blowers such as Maggie Oliver, willing to lose their career to shine light on this issue of lack of police action and an unwillingness to believe women when they share their story.
Similarly, in New Delhi in December 2012 a 23 year old student was assaulted and raped by multiple men on a bus before being thrown off while it was moving. The public outcry was huge! There were protests, demonstrations staged throughout India, debates about attitudes towards women and abuse of women took place and the Justice Committee was formed and created far reaching proposals for safeguarding women. The result was an increased willingness to report abuse.
Where are we in the UK though? Because the reality is that if a woman makes a report of abuse the chances of that resulting in conviction Is depressingly low.
An example is in the year 2020-2021
- 67,125 rape offences, but there were
- 1,557 prosecutions,
- 3% resulted in a charge
- Rape prosecutions in the UK have fallen by at least 70% over recent years.
Why would you enter into that circus, the odds on getting anything like justice are miniscule and yet the value in reporting is that your ‘complaint’ is logged and recorded which could gain a conviction for a future unfortunate. But, I’m sorry (not sorry) DA FUCK!!! This is just wrong. Where is the justice? Why should we need to be protecting a future potential victim, rather than the Justice system ensuring that happens? I guess, until they catch up, “at least” we can do that?
Part of the reason the conviction rates are so low is the evidence required by the CPS. While it is, of course, vital that the right perpetrators are convicted and evidence is clearly needed, the level of intrusion into the victim’s life is, frankly, a further violation at times. In addition, women find that the cases go on for often around 2 years, making any kind of healing difficult.
The number of clients I have had who have said they would not have gone to the police in the first place if they had known the toll it would take on them and their families.
It has left us pondering though, why? Why are the public not outraged? We are not seeing the reaction as they did in India, there are not people lined up outside Courts showing support. True, we have had a few high profile cases where there has been a public reaction – Sarah Everard for example – but there are literally thousands of these cases every year, and as a nation we continue to accept the ridiculously low conviction rates.
We accept that women should plan to “stay safe” when they are out, that we ask what they are wearing, if they somehow were to blame for a man assaulting them. We accept that women carry alarms and have apps to track them on their phones in case of an attack. Why are we not challenging this? Why do we not expect that women and girls have the same level of personal safety as men and boys? When they are hurt, why do we doubt them, and question what they did? In other countries they teach boys to respect women – not to rape, here the societal message has thus far been, men cannot help themselves, so women should take care – this is so wrong. We need to question it, challenge those beliefs, and start to demand change!
Gisele Pelicot says “Shame must change sides” and we couldn’t agree with her more!
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