Orla O’Connor: #MeToo campaign has given women a voice
‘TIME’ magazine has named the women who have come forward about their experiences of sexual harassment and sexual violence, epitomised by the hashtag #MeToo, its ‘person of the year’.
This very welcome announcement is a recognition of the impact of this global social phenomenon which was a seismic moment in questioning the culture of tolerance of sexual violence and sexual harassment.
But where to now?
How can we ensure that our system can respond to women coming forward?
We know that it is women who are overwhelmingly affected by domestic violence and sexual violence and abuse, with over a quarter experiencing physical and or sexual violence since the age of 15.
To ensure women’s access to justice, Ireland’s laws and policies need to be reformed and strengthened to send out a strong message to perpetrators that violence against women is unacceptable and will be severely punished.
As Director of the National Women’s Council, women often tell me how difficult it is to go forward with cases.
Women are well aware that even if charges are brought, there can be lengthy periods before the case goes to court. Being the complainant and the witness can be a very disempowering and traumatic experience. In the end, it is often difficult to secure a conviction that the woman feels is appropriate to the crime.
Migrant women who are dependent on their abusive partner for their residency status may be afraid to report out of fear of losing their legal rights, becoming homeless or facing deportation.
A major limiting factor in women coming forward is the overwhelming level of victim-blaming. Victim-blaming takes many forms. It can be overt, where victims of rape and sexual assault are still blamed for their behaviour when they come forward.
But victim-blaming is also beneath the surface, where we seek to find out how this could have happened to this particular woman because we don’t want to accept that violence against women can happen to all women. It isn’t something about the woman that needed to change, the crime is the sole responsibility of the perpetrator. It is a key achievement of the #MeToo campaign this year that victim-blaming was seriously challenged.
There are also positive
developments in supporting women to report violence and ensure that victims’ needs are addressed within the Irish criminal justice system.
For the first time, we have defined sexual consent in law. New divisional units within An Garda Síochána will place greater focus on domestic and sexual violence and trafficking.
The introduction of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act will improve supports provided to victims of violence.
The Domestic Violence Bill, which is currently going through the Oireachtas, will introduce a new offence of coercive control and a definition of domestic violence.
And in the past month, after years of lobbying by organisations working in this area, the Government has announced it will conduct a comprehensive audit of sexual abuse and violence, 15 years since the publication of the last SAVI Report.
But we must do more. A key priority must be to make our courts system more victim-centred.
We also need to invest in training and increased personnel for gardaí to provide women with protection and to support women through the prosecution process.
NGOs require increased funding to provide critical services to women coming forward.
Ultimately, we must listen to and trust women, so that we can support and empower them to report abuse, violence and control and hold their perpetrators to account.
Orla O’Connor is Director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland and chair of the Irish Observatory on Violence against Women, an independent network of grassroots and national organisations monitoring progress on responses to violence against women and lobbying for policy and legislative changes.