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Welsh gender politics putting male and female victims at risk says men’s charity

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The Welsh government is putting male and female victims of domestic violence at risk by failing to manage a gender political row that has broken out in the principality over proposed legislation designed to tackle violence in Wales, campaigners have claimed.

Legislators in Wales initially planned to introduce a Violence Against Women (Wales) Bill to tackle domestic violence and other forms of abuse against women and girls. Advocates for male victims claimed the legislation excluded men and boys and the Welsh government responded to these concerns by changing the title to the Gender Based Violence, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Bill.

The move has angered advocates on both sides of the gender political debate with Welsh Women’s Aid, which plays a key role in the Wales Violence Against Women Action Group, leading the call for the Bill to revert to its original name, the Violence Against Women (Wales) Bill.

According to Paul Apreda, National Manager of FNF Both Parents Matter Cymru (a charity with links to Families Need Fathers  in England), the name of the bill is somewhat irrelevant as The Welsh Government’s plans are clearly focussed towards a Violence against Women agenda, but run the risk of failure because of an ill-conceived attempt to make them appear gender inclusive.

Women’s groups downplay problems facing men

According to a press release issued by Apreda last week,  pressure to recognise male victims within existing women’s services has resulted in a zero-sum game of men’s groups calling for equality of approach which have been countered by women’s groups downplaying the extent of the problem facing men.

Apreda took the unexpected move of backing Women’s Aid’s request for the Bill to focus on women and girls and called for the Welsh government to develop an additional strategy for helping men and boys.

“Having read through the consultation responses received from a variety of Women’s support groups we understand their concerns about commissioners ‘coercing’ women-only DV services to open their doors to men,” said Apreda. “We share their worry about the dilution of the focus on protecting women and girls – and have come to the conclusion that the Welsh Government has completely miscalculated with this proposal.”

‘We believe that if the Welsh Government fails to put forward a credible, realistic, appropriately funded and timely response for male victims they will be in breach of UK legislation on Gender Equality,” said Apreda. “We stand ready to work with Welsh Government on this separate agenda and we hope we can count on the support of Welsh Women’s Aid to return the support we’re giving them now”.

Lies, damn lies and statistics

However, any hopes that Women’s Aid would support the development of a separate strategy to help male victims were deflated when it was revealed that the charity had made a new submission to the consultation on the bill that stated:

“WWA believes that the term ‘violence against women’ does not exclude men and boys as it refers to a crime type rather than a particular class of victim. As women and girls are the overwhelming majority of victims of these types of violence and abuse and 95% of perpetrators have been found to be men, the benefit of retaining the term within the Bill far outweighs any initial confusion that may be cause in regards to coverage.”

This statistic was angrily challenged by the campaigner Mike Buchanan of Justice for Men and Boys who said in an open letter that this “lie” was a misrepresentation of data contained in a 2008 report by the Crown Prosecution Service. According to Buchanan:

“That report does not state that ‘95% of perpetrators have been found to be men. It states that 95% of those charged (over April – September 2006) were men – a very different matter. There are a number of reasons for this high proportion. Over many years British Crime Surveys have consistently reported that male victims are far more reluctant than women to report their abusers to the police and others. The justice system is institutionally biased against men, and treats women far more leniently.”

We must keep trying to find a solution

While not everyone on the men’s side of this gender political debate agrees with Paul Apreda’s approach, he does appear to have the good will and support of many advocates for male victims. Tony Stott of Healing Men who has campaigned tirelessly for the legislation in Wales to be gender inclusive told insideMAN:

“All those involved in domestic abuse should be treated equally and as individuals whether they are instigators or victims or both.  Support, resources and justice should be made equally available to all regardless of gender.  That is not to say that men and women should be treated the same – clearly men and women are of equal importance but each may well have different needs.

“Unfortunately, “different” has all too often meant denying the importance of men’s experiences of domestic abuse and the approach taken by FNF Both Parents Matter Cymru will help bring the inequalities in importance that men face into sharp focus.  This is a hugely difficult struggle but I feel it is so important that we keep trying to face and resolve this discrimination and inequality.  I hope this approach works!”

The challenge for the Welsh Government is to navigate the turbulent world of gender politics and come up with an approach to tackling violence in Wales that doesn’t favour either side of the debate and is equally capable of helping all victims irrespective of  gender.

—Photo credit: Flickr/Peter Harrison 

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  • Nigel

    I am so pleased there is a debate! It is clearly untenable for there to be such a blatant disregard for male victims The Mankind Initiative made a submission pointing out.
    “In 2011/12, Welsh police forces reported that 2,554 men reported to them as victims of domestic abuse and the latest 2011/12 Crime Survey (anonymous survey) shows that one in three (36%) victims of partner abuse in Wales is male – the equivalent of c24,000 Welsh men per year.”
    It has long been established that male victimisation is very much less likely to be reported and acted upon partly because the whole issue is presented in a “gendered” way rendering male victim invisible and very unlikely to believe that anyone will assist them. I am please a debate has broken out as the cosey relationship between Womensaid and Gov. agencies is directly discriminatory against men and boys in the effect it has. It also prevents proper response to same sex abuse. As expressed by many the paradigm advanced by Womenaid is both old fashioned and out of tune with research throughout the “noughties” and suspiciously self serving from an organisation clearly un interested in anything outside their client group.

  • Nigel

    http://www.mankind.org.uk/pdfs/25%20Key%20Facts_Aug%202014%20(final).pdf

    For anyone interested in the actual facts from the British Crime Survey etc. the above factsheet will be helpful. Though a minority of victims males are a substantial minority. Given the lack of attention to this issue there really is a case for a focus under the Equalities Act. After all no one bats a eye at special attention to women prisoners for instance because they are a minority within the prison population. It may well be that there is a case for different services for male victims. But there need to be both services and targeted campaigns to increase reporting. Just as there is ,rightly, in any other circumstance where there is strong evidence that a protected group is being less well supported than the majority!!!!!!!

  • https://www.fnf-bpm.org.uk/info/ Paul Apreda

    Firstly thanks to Glen for raising the issue. I quoted him from the article in the Guardian in our consultation response. The issue about the Equalities Act is interesting – BUT – I’ve referred Safer Wales’ Dyn Project (the only specialist service for male victims in Wales) to the EHRC and the basis that they call screen service users without their knowledge or consent and pass the details on to specialist women’s services to ensure they are protected. Safer Wales run female only services which do not call screen. However the EHRC are not prepared to look at the matter

  • Garry

    I am Glad Mike Buchanan has spoken out, I was abused by my wife, resulting in my son and I being homeless and no one helping us, in fact they declared i was intentionaly homeless as they asked the perpetrator my wife what her opinion was !, I felt that to be insulting to say the least.

    I had no choice but to run from Hampshire to Wales to get away from her with my son who she then decided to ask Social Services to put into care as a means of still trying to control us and get him from me after I was given residence.

    I now live across the road from a Delyns womens refuge, I also have the displeasure of knowing a women here who has screamed rape on at least three men , none of whom are I, but all three were partners or males she had deliberately led on and abused by emotional and sexual means, yet they were never classed as victims of her abuse, and her being drunk everytime she shouted rape against these men. She is in fact an acloholic.

    It stinks that men are classed as second class citizens in this day and age.

  • Mark Brooks

    Excellent arguments from Paul especially on the point that some charities are deliberately downplaying male victims in Wale
    s. Our submission is here and we are due to appear before the committee on 1 http://www.mankind.org.uk/submisscampaigns.html

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  • ZimbaZumba

    Judges are required to take the intent of the law in their judgements. The title “Violence Against Women (Wales) Bill” is very clear its intent and will disadvantage men in court.

  • Whothehell Cares

    If the numbers of male victims are so low, (as Feminists claim), then they should have no problem accommodating male victims within the the present DV industry, since their impact on funding and services would be so small.

    Feminists who oppose measures to provide services to ALL victims, and who oppose measures to treat ALL perpetrators the same under the law, are sexist low lifes.