Stop.
The protection of women's rights is dependent on their ability to access legal information,
advice and representation. Since the introduction of Legal Aid as part of the 1949 welfare reforms,
Legal Aid has helped people to have a level playing field, to challenge people in positions
of power and to have equality of arms and it has played a vital and life-saving role for women.
So the government is going to turn back the clock on justice with the Legal Aid Sentencing
and Punishment of Offenders Act. This piece of legislation is going to remove civil legal aid
for family law and immigration, social welfare benefits and housing amongst other areas of law
with very limited exceptions. These particular cuts are discriminatory and will serve to entrench
women's inequality and because they disproportionately affect women.
Women leaving violent relationships are going to find it more difficult because they won't have
that advice and support available to them in terms of family law and housing and also women who
have immigration problems can often find it very difficult to leave relationships if they don't
have the correct advice that might say that they are able to stay in the UK regardless of whether
they stay in a violent relationship. Whenever people aren't able to access justice, this is a
knock-on effect on other rights, so for example the right to live your life free from inhuman
and degrading treatment. The criminal justice system is failing women because it's failing
to address the root causes of their offending behaviour. Imprisonment and certain community
sentences replicate the punishment and disempowerment that women have already experienced
prior to their contact with the criminal justice system and by their experiences of punishment
I mean experiences of domestic violence, experiences of sexual abuse and experiences of
social exclusion. Around 80 to 90 percent of the women who we work with have experienced
domestic violence or sexual abuse prior to their contact with the criminal justice system,
so the justice system has failed them as victims before they've had any other kind of contact with
the system. In thinking about women in the criminal justice system it's important to
understand the role that gender inequality plays in women's journeys into the criminal justice
system and the role that properly addressing their experiences of abuse and properly providing
justice for women at an earlier stage would play in reducing the number of women who have contact
with the criminal justice system. Women in prison believes that no woman should be in prison as
prison exists today which means that what we need is a radical reduction in the number of
women in prison and a radical reform of the prison system that we have. Part of the issue is not
just that there needs to be fewer women in prison but the way in which our prison system is set up
needs to be changed because women experience prison differently from men partly because
the system was designed for men and as a clear example of that by far the most self-harm incidents
in prison are committed by women despite them being such a small proportion of the prison
population. To address the unfairness that's built into the criminal justice system we believe
there needs to be a strategy to address all aspects of women's experience of the criminal
justice system and that that needs to be led from the highest levels of government. This government
has committed to producing strategic priorities around women in the criminal justice system
although we haven't yet seen those strategic priorities or the strategic document that comes
with it and obviously strategy in and of itself isn't going to solve the problems it needs to be
fully implemented. There are so many reasons why women and men come here but in most of the times
the same reasons as men come here is political persecution and then there are those reasons
that are specifically for women which is gender related persecution there's a culture of disbelief
in the home office that even if women have disclosed the most traumatic conditions that
they've gone through in their home countries the home office still don't believe them most women
are not regarded to be politicians I think they believe it's just a man who is supposed to be a
politician not a woman and if say FGM or rape it's not looked at as a form of persecution
it's just one of those things that will happen to anybody and then it passes.
The asylum process is really complicated women can be in limbo for quite so many years in my case
I was in limbo for over six years awaiting the home office decision on my case the most painful bit
in the process of seeking asylum is going through your story over and over and over again for you
to be believed. At least if one or two things could be granted to asylum seekers is to have a fair
hearing for women and to remember that these people have gone through so much and the last thing
they need is not to be believed and to have good lawyers basically where legal aid is cut it is
very very hard to get a very good solicitor for an asylum seeker and that is the core of somebody
getting stay if you have a rubbish lawyer that means your case is going to be turned down if you
have a good lawyer then the chances are that you'll be granted stay. Basically what I would want to
see change is the attitude of how home office treat asylum seekers they shouldn't treat them as
numbers behind every number there's a person and that person has a story to tell it does not matter
what kind of story it is but somebody should listen and give a fair judgment of someone's case.
Well access to contraception and safe legal abortion is absolutely key to women's empowerment
and women's rights globally and in the UK. Being able to plan and space and delay our families
allows us to fully participate in society it's really been transformative for women's
social and educational and economic and political empowerment.
Abortion was legalized with the abortion act in 1967 but the key problem in the UK is that
the abortion act was never extended to Northern Ireland. Women who want to terminate a pregnancy
can't do so in almost all circumstances in Northern Ireland. They have to travel to the
mainland UK or further abroad and they have to pay for the procedure and travel themselves
so that exacts a huge emotional and financial cost on these women and their families and it's a
very unfair situation. But there are other issues there are delays and barriers to access
around about 20% of GPs are opposed to abortion in principle and that can sometimes create delays
and obstacles and we're increasingly seeing protests outside abortion clinics from hard
line groups that are opposed to abortion in any circumstances. So although the situation in
England, Scotland and Wales is good the NHS covers the vast majority of abortions they will pay for
them which is hugely important for lower income women. There are still some glaring gaps particularly
for women in Northern Ireland. So the most important thing that we can do is to speak openly
about abortion and it's very difficult for women to come forward because there's this huge amount
of stigma attached to the procedure but the more women who are able to speak out and say yes I had
an abortion yes it was the right thing for me to do and yes I'm fine or yes it was very difficult
for me but it was the right thing for me to do. That has an extremely powerful effect.
In the longer term we really need to be looking at decriminalising abortion altogether in the UK
both in England, Scotland and Wales and in Northern Ireland because decriminalising would
send a really powerful message that abortion wasn't something we needed to be ashamed about
and it would allow us to change regulations around the need for two doctors to give permission
before every abortion can take place around the kind of places that an abortion is allowed to be
carried out so that could happen in GP surgeries or in family planning clinics and it would allow
nurses to become more involved. We can also make sure that the government fulfills its obligations
to women trying to get inside abortion clinics so that they're not harassed and intimidated by
protesters standing in the street outside which can be very distressing for them.
