Struggling to change: campaigns, laws, and local and global strategies

Abstract

This chapter looks at campaigns and social action on domestic violence and rape in the UK across the years, including the End Violence Against Women Campaign and Imkaan. It outlines the global instruments on gender-based violence, and domestic abuse legislation, especially in England and Wales and in Scotland, including the pioneering laws of the 1970s, and activist work to campaign for/improve this legislation. It describes the development of wider collaborations, ‘violence against women and girls’ strategies and multi-agency coordination, bringing agencies and services together to mount coordinated responses. The chapter pays tribute to the late Ellen Pence and the Duluth (USA) Domestic Abuse Intervention Program. It describes the pioneering previous work of the Greater London Domestic Violence Project, and of helplines and men’s projects. It analyses the evolution of commissioning frameworks which can disadvantage smaller organisations, and of mainstreaming. The development of large organisations incorporating many domestic violence services and of a strong emphasis on risk assessment are also outlined. The chapter discusses austerity and funding shortages in the 2010s which have led to project closures and have affected Black and minority domestic violence projects disproportionately. The chapter concludes with a poem about women’s activists in the Middle East and Iraqi Kurdistan.