Women’s Aid National Conference
Friday 16th July 2010
Theresa May's speech
Introduction
Thank you first of all to Women’s Aid for inviting me to speak
to your national conference. You have been supporting women for
over 35 years and I am pleased to see that support is still
strong.
I am delighted also to be sharing a platform with Natalie
Samarasinghe from the United Nations Association of the UK and with
Ceri Goddard from the Fawcett Society.
They – and all of you here - have dedicated your lives to
helping women. It is my privilege to be able to talk to you
today.
VAW is a priority for me
As both Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality, I
believe I have a unique opportunity to bring about real change to
the lives and to the status of women in this country.
My two roles are both important. Not just because I’m a woman.
Not just because I can continue the work I started in opposition.
But because, for me, politics is about ideals; about fighting for
progress – and there is no greater ideal, no greater symbol of
progress than equality.
As women and as a society we have made great strides. But there
is much still to do.
Alongside the challenges of ending discrimination in the
workplace, tackling the gender pay gap and genuinely empowering
women, I am grateful that my brief means that I will be able to
effect real change on an issue on which I have campaigned for many
years.
Violence Against Women is not an aside for me; it is not an
after-thought or a secondary consideration.
It was a priority for me in opposition and it is a priority for
me now I am in government.
So have no fear - have no doubt - that your cause is my
cause.
Why VAW is a problem
No one in this room will need reminding why I take violence
against women so seriously.
The cold hard statistics make that abundantly clear: over 1
million victims of domestic abuse each year, over 300,000 women
sexually assaulted each year and 60,000 women raped. Overall, one
in four women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime,
often with years of psychological abuse.
But behind those numbers on a page are the stories of the real
women who experience these horrific crimes.
Women like Rana Faruqui, the daughter of my constituent Carol
Faruqui, who was brutally stabbed to death by her abusive
ex-partner after being subjected to repeated stalking.
I am in no doubt that there would be many more women in danger
were it not for the work you do in providing over 500 emergency
refuges, help-lines, outreach services and advice centres. You help
so many women – with up to 250,000 victims of abuse accessing your
member services each year, so on behalf of them all, thank you.
But unfortunately not everyone takes violence against women as
seriously as you or I. Shockingly, Home Office surveys suggest that
a quarter of people think that a woman is in some way responsible
for being raped if she wears sexy or revealing clothing.
Around one in five people think it would sometimes be acceptable
for a man to hit or slap his partner if she wore sexy or revealing
clothing.
I don’t.
Let me make clear: my ambition is nothing less than ending violence against women and
girls.
We won’t get there this year, we may not even get there in our
lifetimes, but just as we won the vote, just as we won equal
rights, together we can win
this fight.
Fiscal Context
But we must also recognise, I’m afraid, the seriousness of the
financial crisis our country faces.
This year, Britain had the highest annual borrowing of any
country in the G20. Higher than Argentina and South Africa;
Indonesia, Italy and India.
We must all do our bit to help reduce the deficit and that
obviously includes all government departments.
I hope many of you will have read the numerous articles I have
written on violence against women or heard me talk before about why
I am passionate about supporting and empowering women.
You know that this is a priority for me.
And I hear from you loud and clear that people around the
country see this as a vitally important issue as well.
But the spending review in the autumn will inevitably involve
some tough decisions.
In the past, the solution to a problem seemed to be to throw
money at it, regardless of whether this was the best way to fix
things or not. And the measure of success seemed to be how much
spending had increased.
The approach of the past is no longer an option – Labour’s
reckless borrowing and spending has seen to that.
But their approach was not only irresponsible, it was also
ineffective.
We will take a more considered, more targeted and, frankly, more
sensible approach, that involves the experts – people like you –
more than ever before.
And success for us will not mean we’ve spent more of the money
we don’t have. It will mean more women have been helped, more
abusers have been brought to justice and more attitudes have been
changed.
Government Action
Of course, even in these difficult financial times, government
will still have a strong role to play in tackling violence against
women. And I am not going to pretend that the last government did
nothing at all. I called for some time for Labour to produce a
cross-government strategy for tackling violence against women and,
finally, they did publish one but only months after the
Conservative Party has published our own strategy.
Having called for a strategy while in Opposition, I’m not just
going to discard that approach now we are in Government. I was
convinced of the necessity for a coherent approach then, I argued
for it until we got one and I firmly believe we need it now.
But having taken too long to publish their strategy, Labour did
not even get it completely right. We need a new approach – not to
start from scratch, but to build on the existing work. Not to
disregard the work already done but to improve on it and to fix its
problems. And as a coalition government we are looking at proposals
from both parties in tackling violence against women.
For too long Labour only focussed on the Criminal Justice System
in response to violence
against women – and there is still important work to be done there
in improving prosecution rates for domestic violence and for rape,
improving rehabilitation for victims and in protection from repeat
offenders.
We must give the police and the courts the tools they need to
tackle violence against women – be it domestic violence, rape and
sexual violence, honour based violence, female genital mutilation,
forced marriage, trafficking or stalking – each is a serious
offence that should be treated as such.
But as well as dealing with the consequences of this violence –
we also need to deal with its causes. I hope many of you have read
Ending Violence Against Women, the strategy paper that
David Cameron and I published in 2008. That document recognised the
central role that gender inequality plays – both as a cause and a
consequence of violence against women and committed us to an
approach with prevention,
rightly, at its heart.
This is not a Home Office issue alone. This is about schools,
the NHS, Job Centres, prisons. That is why I have convened a
meeting next week with all my relevant Ministerial colleagues –
including Lynne Featherstone, the Equalities Minister - to discuss
a new approach. We will talk to you and we will talk to others and
we will publish the results of that work by the spring.
But I’m sure we all agree that, fundamentally, it is not words
that matter, it is action. And the last government did not do
nearly enough to follow through on its words.
I will not just talk about violence against women as a priority,
I will back up my words with real, concrete action:
- Working with schools to teach young people about sexual consent
and respect in relationships; and I recognise the good work done by
Women’s Aid in developing the Expect Respect Campaign and the work
they do in schools with this and other campaigns;
- Working with teachers, the police, health care professionals
and the voluntary sector to improve early identification; and
- Woking within government to agree standards. I agree with the
UN’s definition of violence against women and I will ensure it
informs our work across government.
Now let me tell you about some of the real action that this
government will take.
No Recourse to Public Funds
I am fully aware of the importance so many of you rightly attach
to the Home Office pilot scheme to provide support to those victims
of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds.
Every year 1,500 victims of domestic violence apply for
Indefinite Leave to Remain in this country; 500 of them are
destitute.
The last government was right to change the rules to allow
abused women to apply to stay in this country. But it was wrong to
provide no means by which they could be supported in safety while
their claims are dealt with.
Belatedly the last Government introduced a short-term pilot to
fund women’s refuges who take in these vulnerable women whilst they
apply for Indefinate Leave to Remain.
But this pilot was due to come to an end this summer, with no
prospect of a long term solution to the difficult issue in
sight.
You have campaigned and we have listened.
Both Coalition parties recognised the importance of this issue
in opposition. And now we are in government we will take
action.
We have already agreed to extend this groundbreaking pilot into
September. Today, I can announce that we will commit to funding the
scheme until the end of this financial year and to finding a
long-term solution to ensure women are protected after that.
Even in these financially constrained times there are some
things that are too important not to do.
Rape crisis centres / GEO Funding Consultation / Stern
Report
In opposition, both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats
committed to reverse the decline in rape crisis centres. You can
hold us to that commitment.
The previous government’s short-termist system of funding didn’t
work. We need a longer-term, more measured and more sustainable
approach.
We will consider how to use the proceeds from the Victim
Surcharge to deliver up to 15 new rape crisis centres, and give
existing rape crisis centres stable, long-term funding.
The Government Equalities Office is also consulting more widely
on the issue of sustainability for the entire violence against
women voluntary sector. I would encourage you all to get your
responses in to that consultation by the 23rd of July. This will
inform our plans to make sure that specialist domestic and sexual
violence services are sustained. And we recognise that all of you
here play a crucial role in protecting and preventing abuse.
We will ask for your ideas. But we will also provide leadership.
At a national level we will publish a full government response to
Baroness Stern’s insightful and far-ranging review into the
handling of rape complaints.
But we also need to provide leadership on a local level. Local
Authorities must not see this sector as an “easy cut” when making
difficult decisions.
We recognise that they, and others, will not always get things
right - just as central government does not always get it right.
Mistakes will be made, but where they are we will advise them and
we will set them on the right path. Some Local Authorities, for
example, misunderstood the gender equality duty and so failed to
fund badly needed women-only services for victims of violence, or
have transferred funding away to other generic and non-specialist
services. We will work with them, and with the sector, to address
this issue together. and ensure that we influence the future
delivery of appropriate services
Big Society
These are just some of the areas where the Government will take
clear decisive action. But as I have already said, we will not be
able to do it all. Not just because of the financial wreck Labour
left behind, but because even if we did have the money, government
could not do it all –
government could not end violence against women alone.
We need your help.
People ask what the Government means by the Big Society – well
as far as I’m concerned you are the Big Society.
You are the ones who run the refuges; who empower the frightened
and the abused; who protect the vulnerable.
In many ways, the women’s sector is a model of the Big Society
we wish to build. That is a societry in which we all work together
to address problems, conscious that government has a role to play
but that it does not have all the answers, and recognising the role
played by charities, voluntary groups and others alongside central
and local government. You’re way ahead of us with this. The support
services you provide and have been providing for over 35 years are
invaluable to so many – thank you for all that you do.
But we need to go further. We need to empower even more
organisations, communities and individuals to work together to
tackle violence against women. And it is not just about delivering
services. It is about giving people a voice, bringing people
together to take ownership of a problem and working together to
find a solution. It is about challenging assumptions and changing
attitudes on every level of society. Change is often most powerful
when it comes from the bottom up.
But let me be clear – the Big Society does not mean Government
withdrawing, leaving the voluntary sector to pick up the pieces.
The vision of this government is to build a society where we all
come to together to solve problems; where we don’t just ask what
government can do, but what people can do; where we all pull
together and work together, because we are all in this
together.
That means where the voluntary sector does such excellent work –
like in the provision of refuges and rape crisis centres – the
Government ensures the funding it provides is on a stable,
long-term basis, ending the culture of charities having to survive
hand-to-mouth, facing the threat of imminent closure.
But it also means Government taking action where no one else can
– that is why I am committed to extending the no recourse to public
funds pilot while we find a long term solution to this issue.
And it means everyone
working together to achieve the cultural change we need to tackle
this problem. Think about it: it’s only when businesses appreciate
their responsibility to end the sexualisation of women that some
people will stop treating women like objects. It’s only when police
officers, teachers and health workers realise they need to look out
for the early warning signs that domestic violence will be spotted
early. And it’s only when our communities stand up and say violence
against women is unacceptable – through initiatives like Women’s
Aid’s “Real Man” campaign – that attitudes will really begin to
change.
Conclusion
So have confidence that together we can tackle violence against
women.
And rest assured that there will be government action where
necessary, but that we will harness society’s action where
possible.
Not just because money is tight but because, actually, you know
best, not Whitehall, and we will ensure that those who know about
providing specialist services, like Women’s Aid, are key partners
in our plans.
In the Big Society, we will need your hard work, your dedication
and your effort. Not because government will give up or step back,
but because we all need to work together to achieve our aim.
I will support you and I will fight for you. I will provide you
with a voice and a platform.
My ambition is to end violence against women. By working
together we can.
Thank you
Speech ends