The Sylvan violence against women debate considered the following motion:
Violence against women and girls is not taken seriously enough.
The debate took place on Monday 6th January. Florence Powell proposed the motion and Vicky Griffiths opposed it.
The proposition arguing that it isn’t being taken seriously enough
The proposer opened by pointing out that one in four women and girls are subject to harassment. Our institutions and the general public need to recognise the seriousness of the issue and try to prevent it. We need more resources to respond to incidents of violence – the police have called this a national emergency. Yet victims have to report something three times for them to take action. The relentless pursuit of offenders should provide the best way to stop the problem. Because few reports lead to a conviction, rape has been effectively decriminalised and the police are not equipped to handle it. They do not treat victims properly, trawling through their personal data to assess their credibility, including therapy. Those with an ethnic background face poor treatment and victims have lost faith in the system.
As a result, 83% of rape victims don’t report it to the police. The family courts have no training on coercive control, and the system does not provide free advice. Crown court cases face delays of up to four years. We need a whole-society approach. The police did not recall Zara Aleena’s attacker Jordan McSweeney to prison in time, even though he had violated his parole. We need coordinated steps to prevent this, and help victims escape and recover from attacks. Women’s Aid needs more funding, we need more refuge spaces. Migrant women should not face immigration punishments when reporting attacks. We need education to promote healthy relationships and consent. Social media amplifies online abuse and harm, with the Met not equipped to handle the online element. Black women face double the rate of attacks. We need a new attitude to solve this problem.
The opposition against the violence against women debate motion
The opposer strongly stated that no one thinks violence against women is acceptable – the question is whether we think it’s taken seriously enough. We can’t quantify enough. We have a patriarchal society with violence against women, how can we force more change? I’m from a diverse part of London, and in 2021 a woman died after her kidnapping. Within two days, the police had apprehended the culprit, who got a minimum 36-year sentence. We had the appalling Sarah Everard attack, which led to protests during covid, on which the police used a heavy-handed approach. The public, police and courts treat violence against women very seriously indeed. We need to remember that men actually face one-third of domestic abuse – the most prolific rapist targeted men.
We have made progress, let’s not undermine that. In the 1960s men could slap women on the backside. We had Benny Hill-style jokes, yet now upskirting is a crime. Charities have emerged, a positive development, reflecting how serious we take this. It takes time to put laws through the legal system, for instance on banning indoor smoking. We’ve had several major new laws including the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, etc and we have specialists in every 999 call centre.
MPs read the names of female victims in Parliament, including 70 in December alone. We measure what we want to improve, and until recently we had no statistics at all. The UN Secretary General stated that violence against women is about power, and to address it we need gender equality. Behaviour has changed across the country because we take it seriously – no one thinks it isn’t serious. We do need change to happen. The motion reflects the politics of despair.
Floor speeches from the audience of the violence against women debate
I’ve felt abuse, we’ve had progress – yeah. Politicians only do sound bites and jump on the bandwagon. Mayor Khan doesn’t have a clear plan on how to change male attitudes. If one rapist remains on the streets, we haven’t done enough. I don’t believe humans as a species are violent, though local violence is more personal – we need to become a non-violent society. The government takes a top-down approach, and police, a reactive rather than proactive one. Hard times lead to more violence, unfortunately. Women today have more equality and more risk, an unpopular view. Only the most heinous crimes get our attention, can we say we’re taking it seriously enough? Men with many accusers still get away with it. We need the politics of high standards.
Floor speeches continued
This has been a global issue since Biblical times and is a feature of war zones. We still have societies where women do not have equal rights, and the UK does arms deals with some of them. Andrew Tate means boys hear talk of women as inferiors. We need greater investment in mental health care. I grew up in a home of domestic violence, which I condemned – it had been passed down the generations. We have toxic masculinity, and we need healthy masculinity. We need to dismantle the patriarchy, and more equality does not equal more violence, no. The media monetise these stories.
More floor speeches
There has been progress but from a low base. Most abuse happens behind closed doors, with an imbalance of power between individuals. Women need to be empowered to speak out, yet will anyone believe them? Everyone scrutinises all the details, and the perpetrator has the presumption of innocence. The change has to come from women, and we need to make the UK a beacon of progressive society. Elon Musk can draw attention to our failings, so long he bases it on facts. Boys get taught that violence is okay, from their parents and / or their friends – it’s a learned behaviour. Only one prison has therapy for men, why? Grooming gangs are not only Muslim, in fact the largest percentage are white. Girls also pick on and bully each other.
The opposer’s rebuttal
We’ve clearly heard that no man has the right to do this to women. The whole reason for tonight is taking violence against women and girls seriously. We do need to make change via serious solutions. Inquiries punish the wrongdoers and find the cause. Everyone ignored Jimmy Savile in the 70s and 80s, now we have recompense and lessons learned. We haven’t got it right yet – justice needs to be applied equally. Women and men should both push for this.
Loads of men don’t understand basic sexism, though if you point it out to them they are horrified. The BBC changed to calling it ‘men’s football’ instead of just football only recently. People didn’t understand coercive control until just recently, and the pandemic made it more obvious. Everyone has spoken about the horrors and that we need to change, which shows that while we haven’t done enough, we are taking it seriously.
The proposer’s closing speech
Just because we take it seriously, doesn’t mean we take it seriously enough. Some in this room do, but not society as a whole. If Sadiq Khan says something, do the police enact it? Yes we have new legislation, but that doesn’t mean we’ve done enough. Charities are looking for support all of the time, and have to send women home to violent places. This has happened forever, and we need to do more than just thinking about it seriously. We need to prevent it happening by tackling the root causes, and we need more counselling. Violence against men needs more attention too, we need to take both more seriously. Power imbalances apply more to women. We need the politics of high standards.
Result: the violence against women debate motion carried
In the final vote, the Sylvans concluded through the debate that we do not take violence against women seriously enough.
Please see summaries of earlier Sylvan debates here.
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