Moving in the Shadows: Violence in the Lives of Minority Women and Children - A review by Purna Sen

The book, edited by Yasmin Rehman, Liz Kelly and Hannana Siddiqui, was over a year in the making–a project that sought to extend the groups of minority women and the forms of violence addressed. The authors wrote about not just domestic and sexual violence, but also forced marriage, ‘honour-based’ violence, female genital mutilation, ritualised abuse and polygyny. Many chapters raise contentious issues and stretch understandings.

The book was launched at London Metropolitan University in March, creating a space in which some of the issues and debates were aired.

Here, Purna Sen writes about the event with reflection on the political landscape, the women’s movement, the relationship between race and gender and the impact of religiously defined debates around violence against women and girls.  She describes the event as a joining of ‘hearts and minds’, and of ‘real sisterhood’.

Consultation with Victims-Survivors of Violence Against Women and Girls - Imkaan/MOPAC

Imkaan has been commissioned by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to collate the views of women and girls affected by gender-based violence via a series of focus groups and interviews to inform the development of the second London VAWG strategy.  This work provides the opportunity for women and girls to influence future planning in London. We would like to involve:

  • Former-service users of voluntary sector specialist provision, statutory services and criminal justice agencies.  This will include women exiting prostitution.
  • BME (Black, Minority and Ethnic) women and girls including those who have experienced forced marriage, female genital mutilation and “honour”-based violence.
  • Young women under the age of 18 including those who have been/are associated to gangs.
  • We will explore any barriers to accessing service provision e.g. disability, sexual identity, and age.

The objective of this piece is to obtain the perspectives of women and girls to strengthen our understanding of service gaps and needs, pathways through which women and girls in London access protection and support and identification of promising practice in prevention work.  We will also develop recommendations on effective service models, and a report will be produced in June 2013.

If you work in this area and would like to contribute to the project please contact ika@imkaan.org.uk or call 020 7250 3933. 

Read more

Representations of Gender in Advertising.  Original by Sarah Zelinski, Kayla Hatzel, and Dylan Lambi-Raine for their women and gender studies class. 

New resource available, "The Road to Sustainability - Summary findings: A review of Black, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BMER) organisations working with women on health and gender-based violence"

This updated summary was produced by Imkaan. 

This is a summary report of The Road to Sustainability, a piece of research commissioned by the Women’s Health and Equality Consortium (WHEC) in 2010. The WHEC is a coalition of women’s organisations who are a strategic partner of the Department of Health. The WHEC was set up to improve engagement between statutory health bodies and the women’s third sector to ensure that the diverse needs and experiences of women and girls are reflected within health and social care policy.

This summary report provides an overview of the current situation of BMER women’s organisations and other specialist health services. The primary focus of the study was on small specialist BMER women’s organisations that work in the area of violence against women and girls (VAWG) including domestic and sexual violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and ‘honour-based’ violence. The research identifies key issues and challenges which are having an impact on the resilience and sustainability of the women’s health and social care voluntary sector. The research aims to inform and assist commissioners who are developing their thinking on the commissioning of BMER specialist services within the health and social care sector.

Source: imkaan.org.uk

Briefing: Model Outcomes Framework and Service Standards for Violence Against Women and Girls services

  • Women’s Aid and Imkaan in partnership are developing a model outcomes framework for survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and, based on this framework, are issuing new National Service Standards for VAWG Services.
  • The outcomes framework will serve multiple purposes. At a local level, organisations will be able to continuously identify survivor needs and develop their services accordingly, ensuring improved responses to VAWG . The framework will also provide a set of survivor-identified outcomes to inform funders’ commissioning processes.
  • At a national level, the outcomes framework will enable nationwide data collection to build a clear evidence base of the nature and extent of VAWG, to assess the effectiveness of the range of support and interventions available, and to provide an opportunity for benchmarking and best practice development.
  • The service standards will serve as a set of guidelines for commissioners and funders looking to fund and/or evaluate services. They will further enable sector-wide improvement, service responsiveness and development.
  • The outcomes framework and service standards will have an integrated human rights framework to ensure services and interventions are human rights focused and are in line with national and  international duties to protect survivors,  prevent VAWG, and to improve justice responses to survivors through partnership working.
  • We are working with voluntary sector organisations with specialisms across the equalities strands to ensure outcomes of survivors with protected characteristics are encompassed in the framework.
  • We are additionally sharing information and knowledge with Respect, a national membership organisation that provides helpline support to male victims of domestic abuse, with a view to enabling the development of a male survivors’ outcome framework. This is in response to emerging evidence of the different needs of male survivors and therefore the different service responses required.
  • The outcomes framework and service standards are being developed in on-going consultation with support staff, management, and survivor representatives from Imkaan and Women’s Aid member organisations. The draft outcomes framework will be presented at Women’s Aid conference in July 2013.
  • For more information contact the Capacity Building team:  Camille Kumar , Katy Taylor or Janet McDermott: info@ayaproject.org.uk