Recently I took part in the House of Lords Debate to note of International Women’s Day and the United Kingdom’s role in furthering and protecting the equality of women in the UK and internationally. I not only stressed the lack of progress for women’s rights in the UK but also the threats to their freedom of expression especially oinline.
My Lords, I am very pleased to take part in today’s debate. Like many others, I am pleased that the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, opened it in such a comprehensive way. I certainly do not envy her in responding to it, however, as it has already been so wide-ranging.
I take part today with a somewhat heavy heart, partly because I see the suffering of the women in Ukraine who have to bear such a heavy burden in facing the onslaught of a vicious Russian invasion, whether they stay or flee their homeland. Like the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, I salute the courage of the Russian TV news editor Marina Ovsyannikova, and I of course celebrate the wonderful news of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe coming home. I also celebrate the growing recognition of the achievements of women in the digital policy space that I speak on frequently.
More broadly, however, contrary to expectations, there has been a deterioration in women’s rights and condition in this country in many ways. I was a teenager in the 1960’s and it seemed then that growing equality of treatment in all walks of life and respect for women’s rights would lead to a better society. In so many areas, I fear that is not the case. As Refuge says in its briefing, women and girls in the UK continue to face appalling levels of violence. More than one in four
women in England and Wales aged 16 to 74 experiences domestic abuse at some point in their lives, and an average of two women a week are killed by their partner or ex-partner—a statistic which has not changed in decades. Women’s Aid highlights the fact that 60% to 70% of women accessing mental health services have experienced domestic abuse.
As Refuge also says, technology is increasingly being weaponised by perpetrators of domestic abuse to harass, stalk and abuse survivors. Technology-facilitated domestic abuse—or tech abuse—has a devastating impact on both mental health and physical safety. The Online Safety Bill, published today, will be judged not only by whether it protects children, but also by whether it protects women from this kind of abuse.
Moreover, rape charges and convictions are at a minuscule level. Home Office crime figures show 56,152 alleged rapes in the year to September 2020, but analysis shows that just 1.5% of reported cases produced a charge. The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird, said:
“If you are raped in Britain today, your chances of seeing justice are slim. Even though police are now referring more and more cases to the CPS, we have seen a catastrophic fall in rape prosecutions. The latest data show just 1.5% of cases result in a charge. That means that more than 98% of cases do not reach court. This is shameful and has real and profound consequences for victims up and down the country.
The drop in prosecutions has led to fewer convictions. There were 1,074 rapists convicted in the year to December 2020, a record low and a decline of 64% from the 2,991 convictions in 2016. In criminal justice, we have had equivocation about the status of misogynistic abuse and conduct as a criminal offence, as we heard so cogently from the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy.
In healthcare, the foreword by Dame Clare Gerada to Public Policy Projects’ Redressing the Balance: A Women’s Health Agenda is damning. She says:
“It is my personal feeling that women have no more rights regarding their bodies and healthcare than when I was born 62 years ago. As a GP of over 40 years, I have treated thousands of women. However, throughout the process of crafting this report, I have been shocked to learn that many of the medical interventions and procedures held up by institutions and policymakers are not in place for the good of women’s health but serve to prevent women from being in control of their own bodies.”
Single-sex wards are under threat, as we have discussed during the passage of the Health Bill last night.
As a Clapham resident, I was shocked by the policing of the Sarah Everard vigil, the complacency of the outgoing commissioner and the report of the police inspectorate. I am pleased by the outcome of the recent High Court case brought by the organisers, Jessica Leigh, Anna Birley, Henna Shah and Jamie Klingler. All that brings me on to freedom of speech, which is meant to be so dear to us in this country, and in particular to my party. Given the publication today of the Online Safety Bill and the response to the Joint Select Committee on which I sat, it is a highly topical issue.
I have never been trolled or piled on, but when I see those who engage in legitimate discussion of sex-based rights, such as Kathleen Stock, Maya Forstater, JK Rowling, the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, and others in my party, cancelled, insulted or moderated out, then I despair. Where does this lead? Can we, for
instance, not talk about the concerns raised by the Cass Review, the independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, for fear of giving offence?
There are a few facts from the Cass review which we must talk about. The number of children and young people being referred to GIDS has increased dramatically in just over a decade—from approximately 50 referrals per year in 2009 to 2,500 in 2020, with a waiting list of 4,600. The large majority of these referrals are now for what the report calls “birth-registered females” who are presenting in their early teens. In 2009, girls made up one-third of referrals to GIDS. In 2016, they made up over two-thirds. I have long worked in the autism field, and it is notable that around one-third of children and young people referred to GIDS have autism or other types of neurodiversity. In the population as a whole, the percentage of people with autism is approximately 1%.
If we are to be able to genuinely celebrate women’s achievements and advance their rights, it is vital that we are able to hold a conversation which is civilized and respectful. We must all be allowed to express our genuine beliefs—or, indeed, facts—without fear of censorship or abuse.
