Our Policy Work
In centring the lived experiences and material realities of Black and minoritised women and girls Imkaan are socio-economically contextualising violence against women and girls through an intersectional lens.
Our key policy concerns include:
Structural inequality including the diminishment of Equality and Public Sector duties
Housing, Health and Socio-economic Inequalities
Immigration legislation and the extension of the Hostile Environment
The exclusion of migrant women from safety and protection
Institutional racism and the further criminalisation of women and girl survivors
Punitive measures taken against Black and minoritised women survivors via multi-agency safeguarding mechanisms
Gender Neutrality and the loss of women focused policies and services
The defunding of the Specialist led by and for sector and the de-politicisation of violence against women and girls
The weakening of Human Rights based policy and legislation
The UK’s lack of adherence to international obligations such as CEDAW & Istanbul Convention
“The most subversive thing a woman can do is talk about her life as if it really matters”
Mona Eltahawy
Working Towards Transformational Change
The three pillars of our Justice work build upon decades of Black feminist activism and space making, Imkaan is just one of many custodians of a proud and fierce tradition of Black feminist activism, speaking truth to power collectively and uplifting sisters and movements along the way. Our policy work is steeped in this tradition, we cannot disconnect the history of our Black and minoritised women’s sector and the ending violence against women and girls sector from its collectivist, feminist, intersectional roots.
It has been generations of Black, minoritised, migrant, working class, disabled, queer and other marginalised women who have fought for and won so many of our existing rights. Social Policy has been shaped by this struggle for justice for all, but the work of Black and minoritised, disabled, queer, working class women has often been co-opted and muted without acknowledgment. Imkaan’s policy work sets to redress the harm done by mainstream social policy work that fails to centre the needs of the most marginalised.
Social Justice
At the heart of our ending violence against women and girls policy work is the need to address deep rooted social injustices that are often informed by structural inequalities and oppression. At Imkaan we believe that we cannot address violence against Black and minoritised women and girls if we do not fight for social, racial and economic justice. Social injustice is embedded in the everyday, in micro-aggressions at interpersonal and institutional levels as well as at policy and practice levels.
Housing Justice
Racism, inequality and austerity have led to a housing crisis for Black and minoritised women and their dependents. Housing inequality includes poor social housing conditions, overcrowding, forced eviction and locality exclusion as well as homelessness and destitution and housing policy is often stratified by immigration status and socio-economic status. An increase in the exclusion of Black and minoritised migrant women or women who are perceived to have ‘uncertain’ or ‘insecure’ immigration status from safe accommodation, refuge provision and housing has further institutionalised forms of economic abuse and coercive control. Safe and secure housing is critical to the Black and minoritised women and girls’ survival and wellbeing.
Legal Justice
The legal and criminal justice system is not an equitable one as decades of our research has shown. Black and minoritised women, particularly survivors of abuse, are overrepresented in the prison-industrial complex (including detention), face increased levels of criminalisation and prosecution and are less likely to receive fair treatment in the criminal justice system at every juncture. Black, minoritised, migrant women and girls’ human rights are being regularly breached. Likewise Black and minoritised led by and for organisations are facing increased levels of hostility, unfair competition, exclusion, and aggressive defunding. These are usually done in contravention of international obligations and public sector equality duties.