UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

EXTERNAL UNDERGRADUATE LAW PROGRAMME

LAWS SKILLS PORTFOLIOAre UK Laws sufficient to overcome issues of violence against women? Historical struggle of British Feminists and difficulties with the UK laws to deal with issues of violence against women such as sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence.

Mrs SHAMA P JUNEJOSRN: 0904961964/30/2014

UNIVERSITY OF LONDONExternal Undergraduate Laws Programme

LAWS SKILLS PORTFOLIO SUBMISSION FORM

LAWS SKILLS PATHWAY 2

Name of student: Mrs Shama P Junejo

Student Registration Number: 090496196

Legal Subject Area: Human Rights and Jurisprudence

Research question: Are UK Laws sufficient to overcome issues of violence against women?

Historical struggle of British Feminists and difficulties withthe UK laws to deal with issues of violence against women such

as sexual harassment, rape and domestic violence.Declaration:

I declare that:

I have read the regulations in relation to Examinationoffences in the General Regulations for Degrees and Other Awards atCertificate, Intermediate and Honours Levels and the LLB ProgrammeRegulations and Appendix 2 of the guide Demonstrating Laws Skills:Laws Skills Pathway 2.

I understand what plagiarism is and its implications.

I understand that collusion is a form of plagiarism and theimplications of this for teamwork.

The portfolio is all my own work and I have provided:

Appropriate references or acknowledgments when usingor citing the published or unpublished works ofothers;

Appropriate information about team work contributionsin the evidence attached to the claims documentincluded here.

Claims document

Outcome 1Identify the principal issues for research on a specific legaltopic.

ClaimThe outcome and the associated skills have been achieved as Iwas able to identify a specific legal topic for research fromHuman Rights and Jurisprudence. I raised the principal issuesfor legal research associated with this topic by formulating aproper research question.

I consider the issue of legislation to prevent violenceagainst women is an important issue in any society. As ablogger and writer, I have discussed this issue in many of myblogs and articles. Initially, I was of the opinion that thelaws in the developed countries like UK would be adequate todeal with any issue of violence against women. Therefore, Istarted researching the historical background of the variousSuffrage movements worldwide. However, I focused my attentionlater to UK legislation as it would have proved beyond thescope of this research to tackle the issue worldwide.

My initial research carried facts regarding condition of womenin various societies and cultures including my own countryPakistan. It proved my initial perception wrong that thelegislation in developed countries would be adequate to dealwith any issue of violence against women. It should thatgeneral perception of women being weaker and inferior to menis a worldwide phenomenon, as is the fact that generallylegislations are not fully able to deal with the issue, butthis varies from country to country. The research thenfocussed on the evolution of UK laws on the subject discussingthe present situation and the possible way forward or thepossible room for improvements. As such it proved to be animportant issue for protection of Human rights and relevant tothe subject material I was studying.

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EvidenceI managed to successfully introduce and identify the researchquestion in paragraph one, which describes the main issues forresearch in this topic. In the essay, I attempted to presentthe struggle for women rights in Europe including the UK sincethe French revolution. I briefly introduced that the variousfeminist movements have led to the reform of UK laws toadequately overcome issues relating to violence against women.How far the reforms have been successful and to what extentand what remains to be done form the main question on whichthe research essay has been centred on.

Paragraph 2 describes the general perceptions regarding womenand their condition in various societies, cultures andcountries. I have started with a quote from British feministwriter Laura Bates who describes her conversation with a girldescribing women drives more prone to accidents. I have thenresearched and followed up the perceptions in variouscountries of the world including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India,Saudi Arabia and Africa. The examples of Malala Yousfazai whowas shot in the face in Pakistan by Taliban for promoting girleducation as well as Mukhtaran Mai and others have beendescribed in some detail.

The later paragraphs then describe the condition of women inthe developed world including US, Europe and UK where variousstatistics of violence against women and sexual harassmenthave been provided, thus providing the foundation for thenecessity of this research and importance of adequatelegislation in dealing with various issues of violence againstwomen.

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Outcome 2Locate and retrieve relevant information on a specific topicusing primary and secondary legal sources, in paper orelectronic media (including use of the world-wide-web).

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I was able to locate and retrieve the relevant information on thechosen topic using primary as well as secondary sources. Whileconducting research for my essay, I used both paper literature andbooks available, electronic sources like the world-wide web. Iobtained statistics and figures from various institutions by emailas well as through their various websites. I also personallyconducted research from Croydon Town hall library and personalvisits to Victim Support Centre Croydon.

Initially, I looked at my various textbooks and reference books toplan for my project and get an initial overview. At that stage, Iwas able to discover some preliminary reading material and then Ilooked at variety of research resources available at the library, mypersonal visits, and emails queries and online through the worldwideweb. I started by reading the Subject guide for Jurisprudence byElizabeth Sewell, ‘Feminist Jurisprudence’ by Patricia Smith andthen reading the views on ‘Every day Sexism’ by Laura Bates(http://everdaysexism.com). I researched relevant material from alarge number of websites and e-books available as well as relevantpassages from Steiner, Alston and Goodman, ‘International HumanRights in Context’. I saw a lot of relevant material at the variouslibraries but the scope of this essay was limited and therefore, Ihad to stick to strictly relevant material.

EvidenceAfter identifying the research question, I started byresearching all the background material on the subjectincluding the various suffrage movements, condition of womenin various societies and cultures as well as in the developedworld like US, Europe and UK. The subject guides and referencebooks gave me sufficient information to base my research. Ithen gathered the various statistics and other relevantmaterial as well as extensively used the online resources tocomplete my research project. Various organisations like CAADA(coordinated action against domestic abuse), NSPCC (NationalSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) and UNA-UKproved very helpful in providing me various statistics andresearch material. I followed various popular Feminists andWomen Right workers and associations such as Patricia Smith,

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Dr Sara Payne, Laura Bates etc on social media (Twitter) and Iam in direct contact with various Human Rights activists likeAsma Jehangir. All this helped in formulating my research.

The attached bibliography of my research essay lists thevarious primary and secondary sources I used for my research.

Outcome 3Use sources in a critical and reflective way.

ClaimIn my research essay, I have proved that I can use sources ina critical and reflective way. During paragraphs 4 and 5 ofthe essay, I have analysed the feminist movements in the UKand how the struggled started after the French Revolution bythe end of the 18th century. I have described the varioussuffrage and feminist movements and their impact on UKlegislations like introduction of the Peoples Act 1918 wherewomen got the equality of vote for the first time; the 1919sex disqualification removal Act; Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights acknowledging Women Rights; 1970 Equal Pay Act;1976 Domestic violence protection Act. However, it criticallyanalyses the situation despite these various legislations andhow the UK was still not up to speed with the introduction of1979 Convention on the Elimination of all forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the refusal of UK toincorporate CEDAW in its legislation. I have tried to my owncritical evaluation and reflection on where the UK legislationstands despite the progress achieved by various feministmovements through history.

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EvidenceThe paragraphs 2-10 of the research essay fully demonstrate myability to research using both primary and secondary legalsources and reference materials and provide criticalevaluation and reflection on the material researched.

Outcome 4With limited guidance, and using a range of legal resources,plan, research and produce an original piece of legal writingsome of which should address areas of law not previouslystudied in depth.

ClaimI was able to complete my research essay using both primaryand secondary legal sources and reference materials as well asthe World Wide Web with limited guidance from my subjectteacher and minimal feedback through team working with class

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fellows in Jurisprudence (I am the only student in the collegestudying Human Rights). I have already completed my oralpresentation on the subject material during March 2014, whichhas already been submitted by the college to the University ofLondon.

In my research essay, I have looked at the issue oflegislation regarding violence against women, the variousfeminist movements in the Europe and UK and their impact of UKlaws. I have analysed the condition of women in varioussocieties and cultures and finally attempted to criticallyanalyse where the UK laws stand in adequately preventingviolence against women. Though the topic of feminism has beentouched upon in Jurisprudence and Human Rights, there is noin-depth study of UK legislation in relation to prevention ofviolence against women.

EvidenceThe attached research essay (Appendix A) is an original pieceof legal writing. As per the provided certification in thebeginning of this portfolio, this is my original work producedwith limited guidance and all the statistics and originalquotations have been properly referenced.

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Outcome 5Make an accurate assessment of your progress and the qualityof your work and, using feedback, identify areas forimprovement.

ClaimMy research essay provides sufficient evidence that I amcorrectly able to identify a research issue, formulate aproper research question on the issue, gather requiredinformation from primary and secondary sources and criticallyanalyse the information to reach a conclusion based onresearch. During my research, I consulted a wide variety ofprimary and secondary sources including text-books, referencematerials, worldwide web online sources as well ascommunications through emails and visits to gather therequired legal information and statistics. Keeping with thelimited scope of the exercise, I was able to select the mostrelevant materials and reject materials which were not sorelevant to the research questions or would have distractedfrom the research question keeping in view the limited wordlimit for the research essay.

I received limited guidance from my subject teacher during theresearch process. However, I worked with my class fellows ofJurisprudence and received regular feedback from my colleagueMS, which allowed me to identify areas of improvement,clarification or need for some information not so relevant tobe excluded. I prepared a short PowerPoint presentationoutlining the topic and presenting the main arguments. Idelivered my oral presentation to my class fellows and subjectteacher and this increased my understanding of the subjectissue and made me realize the areas where further work wasneeded. The feedback received from my colleague MS was alsoimportant on what material to exclude from the research essayso that I retain the focus and be within the word limitClaims document Page 8

restrictions. I believe that my final research essay providesa sufficient answer to my initial research question and alsoidentifies the need of further research in the area. Takingthis as an initial starting point, a bigger research projectsuch as dissertation can be formed by enhancing the scope ofmy initial research question.

EvidenceThe research essay demonstrates my progress in the identifiedsubject matter and highlights my research skills and myability to critically analyse large amounts of legal researchmaterials, texts and statistics to arrive at a conclusion. Iworked with my fellow students (MS and AJ) during classdiscussions of Jurisprudence and this allowed me to evaluatemy legal research and presentation skills. These discussionsenabled me to focus on the research question, include therelevant materials and come up with a PowerPoint Oralpresentation. During the presentation, my colleagues observedthat I was drifting away from the subject and this enabled meto remain focussed on the research topic after I reviewed allthe gathered materials and included the most relevant ones.The discussions and informal presentations with my colleaguesbetter prepared me for the formal oral presentation and servedto brush up my presentation and argumentation skills.

Outcome 6Produce a word-processed portfolio, with footnotes, usingappropriate formatting tools, and communicate and exchangedocuments by email.

ClaimI have produced the entire portfolio through the word-processor MS word. I have used the footnotes in my researchessay and have also used the appropriate formatting toolsincluding different footers for different sections of the

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portfolio. I have used Arial 14 point font for headings andsub-headings, Cambria 12 point font in my footers, while TimesNew Roman 12 point is my basic font. I have used a linespacing of 1.15 to make the portfolio attractive and easy toread. I have also tried to fully demonstrate my word-processing skills by using indents, bullet points, footnotes,bold, italics, right justifications and footers to make myportfolio pleasing to the eye and easy to read. I have alsodesigned the cover page using the same MS Word programme.

My subject tutor helped me in finalizing the referencing,footnotes and bibliography. I also used extensively thefacilities of spell-check and grammar check in built in theword processor.

I used the internet extensively during my research essay andfinalizing the portfolio. I corresponded by email with mycolleagues and various organisations in obtaining variousstatistics and legal information, some of which are attachedin this portfolio. The correspondence by email proved to bethe easiest and fastest way of communication and I learned onworking with attachments to the email and how to updatevarious draft documents and how to keep updating names untilthe finalization of the draft documents.

I learnt the use of ‘snipping tool’ to attach my emailscreenshots to this portfolio. I also learned how to convertPowerPoint presentation slides to PDF format and then includeit in the portfolio (which is a word document).

EvidenceThis portfolio is evidence of my skills on the use of word-processor with appropriate formatting tools as well as mycomputer skills and communication and exchange of documents byemail. The research essay is attached as Appendix A, emailexchanges as Appendix B and PowerPoint slides as Appendix C.

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Outcome 7Briefly and accurately present and discuss, orally in English,legal information from standard textbooks, leading cases orstatutes in a way that responds relevantly to the questionasked or topic set and is understood by the audience.

ClaimI can briefly and accurately present and discuss, orally inEnglish, legal information from standard textbooks, researchmaterial from primary and secondary sources and statutes in away that responds relevantly to the question asked or topicset. My oral communication is well and clearly understood bythe audience.

I worked with my class mates of Jurisprudence subject indeveloping my PowerPoint presentation and their feedbackclearly illustrated that my oral communications were well andclearly understood by them. I made a formal oral presentationface-to-face at Middlesex College of Law, 55 Palmerston Road,Wealdstone, Harrow, Middlesex HA3 7RR on 20 March 2014, around03:30 pm local time. My oral presentation was in front of myclass fellows, college staff and was assessed by my Head ofDepartment, Mr Shaun Brennan.

EvidenceThe PowerPoint slides of my formal oral presentation areincluded in this portfolio as Appendix C. The certificate thatI completed the formal oral presentation, the assessment proforma with feedback from Mr Sean Brennan as well the CD of the

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presentation including the PowerPoint has already been sent bymy college to the University of London.

Outcome 8Work as an active and effective member of a team contributingproductively to the group’s task.

ClaimDuring the research task, I was able to work actively andeffectively with two of my class fellows of Jurisprudence (MSand AJ). We worked together as a group to finalize ourresearch task starting from identifying the research topic,formulating the research question, researching primary andsecondary sources, including relevant statistics and data inthe research essay, developing the PowerPoint presentationleading to formal oral presentation of the selected topic andfinalizing the research portfolio.

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We worked together to provide ideas to each other, providefeedback on our research tasks, help out team members who werestuck with any difficulty during the research task and assessprogress of each other. I was able to benefit most on thefeedback to my draft research essay and presentation and mycolleagues helped me in remaining focussed on my researchquestion and to decide what to include and what to excludekeeping in view the word limitations for the research essay. Ialso provided honest feedback to my colleagues on helping themidentify and select relevant research topic, development oforal presentation and finalization of the portfolio.

The whole research project and team work helped me indeveloping my communication and argumentation skills,remaining focussed on the key tasks, facing challengingquestions and opening myself to criticism and feedback whichhelped a lot in my personal and professional development.

EvidenceFor the entire duration of my research project from developingthe research question to formal oral presentation andfinalization of the portfolio, I held regular meetings with myclass fellows. The meetings were aimed at judging how we wereprogressing in the research project, providing feedback andsuggestions if there were any challenges. This proved helpfulfor me as I was going of track at one point, with extremelylarge amount of research material. The meetings and feedbackhelped me in retaining focus on the legal challenges faced dueto violence against women and how the UK laws were dealingwith these challenges. This enabled me to produce the researchessay within the prescribed word limit and to finish myresearch portfolio in time. The email correspondences(Appendix B) and the PowerPoint slides (Appendix C) aretestimony of my collaborative team work during the entireresearch project.

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Appendix A: Research essay

Are UK Laws sufficient to overcome issues of violenceagainst women? Historical struggle of British Feministsand difficulties with the UK laws to deal with issues ofviolence against women such as sexual harassment, rapeand domestic violence.

Feminism theory is basically an ideology mostly based onthe political movements to empower women and the belief fromthe legal theory that women should have equal rights to men.Hence, the purpose of legal theory of feminism is to achievean equal social status in society along with reforms on issuessuch as education, domestic violence, sexual violence andharassment.1 The struggle for women rights in Europe includingBritain has evolved since centuries especially along with theFrench revolution. It is known as feminism, feminist theology,women’s rights, and women’s liberation movements etc. Thisessay will critically examine whether the long struggle ofBritish feminists have led to the reform of UK laws toadequately overcome feminist related issues like sexualharassment, rape and domestic violence or not. The essay willattempt to examine the evolution of UK laws on the subject,discuss the current situation and the possible way forward.

According to Sewell, the general perception is usually onthe concept that women are by default weaker than men, andtherefore, it has been accepted that as a consequence of thatperception men have a political life to lead and women have tofulfil private virtues such as house hold chores and raisingchildren.2 Another general perception for women is that “they

1 Extract from “Feminist Jurisprudence” by Patricia Smith, 2 Extract of Elizabeth Sewell from Subject Guide, Jurisprudence, Chapter 15, Page 216, Para 1

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are completely sexual creatures whose sexuality should beavailable for all men”.3 Therefore, a great deal of social lifehas been divided on such gender biased perceptions and even inthese modern times, it continues. Laura Bates, a Britishfeminist writer, shares her conversation with an eleven yearold girl in her new book based upon her project website “Everyday Sexism”4. She writes that the girl was told by her unclethat women drivers ‘always’ cause accidents due to fixingtheir makeup in back view mirrors. She further describes thatthe young girl is raised with this perception that women cannever be good drivers. It is commonly found in most societiesand cultures, that women face similar humiliating comments aswell as minor incidents of sexual harassment so often thatthey don’t even realise that they have been discriminatedagainst or harassed. Situation in the Third World countries iseven worse, where ‘Violence against women’ is an acute issueof main problems in their societies and cultures. Women beinga ‘vulnerable creature’, are likely to face violence such asdomestic abuse, rape and sexual violence, forced sex,prostitution and trafficking and honour killings. The violencestarts from girl children to adult women and it has continuedin all cultures, religions and eras.5 According to AmnestyInternational, it is a ‘moral crime’ in Afghanistan, if awoman flees from an abusive husband.6 In Pakistan, a girl,Malala YusufZai, was shot in her head just because she refusedto Taliban for discontinuation of her school. She luckilysurvived from that head injury. However, she is in the UK atthe moment for the completion of her studies, and cannot goback to her own country due to death threats. Another famous

3 Ibid, Hunt, 1992 4 Everyday Sexism is Project of Laura Bates, it is a website founded on 16 April 2012 by LauraBates, a British feminist writer. The aim of the site is to document everyday examples of sexism as reported by contributors around the world http://everydaysexism.com/ 5 An extract from Introduction “Violence against women” edited by Nancy Lombard, Lesley Mcmillan http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ym7BUe4MDK8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=violence+against+women&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MNNJU5DMKqTm7Abvi4C4BA&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=violence%20against%20women&f=false 6 http://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Women%27s-rights-in-Afghanistan?gclid=COTyoKaN4b0CFW7MtAodqnIAXg

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case on violence against women from Pakistan is of MukhtaranMai. She was gang raped yet failed to get justice from theSupreme Court of Pakistan. There are large number of womenkilled on the name of honour and acid burning in Pakistan. 7 InIndia, bride burning cases are very common, where girls areburnt alive for not bringing sufficient amount of dowry8. Inmany countries of Africa, young girls face inhuman torture inthe form of female genital mutilation9. Sadly, it is a culturalpractice and thought to have been established centuries ago.Hence, there is no noticeable development despite ofInternational efforts to eliminate it10. In Saudi Arabia andmost of other countries of Middle East, women are not allowedto drive. Muslim women from any part of world are not allowedto perform Hajj and Umrah without an adult male companion,therefore, women without adult male companions cannot performthe most important religious ritual in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Aptly describing this situation, a very famous Americanradical feminist Catherine Mackinnon11 named her book “Arewomen Human?” In her other book ‘Sexual Harassment of WorkingWomen’, she argues that sexual harassment is a form of sexualdiscrimination, because the US legislation12 reinforced thesocial inequality of women to men (PP116-18, 174). In anotherbook ‘Only Words’ on feminist legal theory she points out that38% of women are sexually molested as girls; 24% of women areraped in their marriages. Nearly half of women are raped orare the victims of attempted rape at some time during theirlives. 85% of women who work outside the home are sexuallyharassed by their employers.13" Another survey by European

7http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shama-junejo/the-burn-victims-of-pakis_b_1377694.html 8 An extract from Violence against women and their exploitation in India by Dharam Vir 9 Female "circumcision" in Africa: Culture, Controversy, and Change edited by Bettina Shell-Duncan, Ylva Hernlund 10 Female Genital Mutilation: Legal, Cultural And Medical Issues by Rosemarie Skaine11 Catherine Mackinnon is a famous American Feminist, activist, Scholar and Lawyer. She has written many books based on Feminist legal theory, sexual harassment, rape, and pornography.12 Title Vll of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 13http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=ngYlqkMt_CgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=katherine+mackinnon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mTtNU_TJM4PBO-epgOgH&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=katherine%20mackinnon&f=false

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Union Agency for Fundamental Rights14 presents results, basedon interviews with 42,000 women; The survey tells that "one in10 women has experienced some form of sexual violence sincethe age of 15, and one in 20 has been raped", 22% had sufferedfrom physical or sexual violence by a partner, but that 67%did not report the most serious incidents of domestic violenceto the police. It said there was a link between heavy alcoholuse and domestic violence. About 18% of women said they hadbeen the victims of stalking since the age of 15, and 55% saidthey had been sexually harassed, often in the workplace15.Highest number of Physical and sexual violence statistics inDenmark 52%, Finland 47%, Sweden 46%, The UK and Francereported the 5th highest number with 44%, while Poland has beenreported with lowest incidents such as 19%. Therefore,bringing up everything into account, it is not difficult toanalyse that there is no country in the whole world wherewomen can claim to have equal rights including the UnitedKingdom.

There is, however a long history of struggling feministsin the UK. Number of noted limited movement for women’s rightsstarted along with French revolution by the end of 18th

century. Mary Wollstonecraft16, was the first ever Britishfeminist, who argued for women’s rights specially education,equality between sexes and double standards of the society ondomestic abuse and humiliation17. She asserted that women, likemen, were capable to do anything, however, due to suppressedupbringing, their intellect was limited. During the mid-Nineteenth century to early Twentieth century, ‘Women’sSuffrage’ was the first politically motivated nationalmovement that began in 1872, with the formation of NationalUnion for Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Millicent

14 http://fra.europa.eu/en/press-release/2014/violence-against-women-every-day-and-everywhere 15 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-26444655 16 Mary Wollstonecraft (April 27 1759- September 10, 1797) was an eighteenth century British writer, philosopher, and feminist. Her novel “A vindication of the Rights of Woman” produced her own declaration of female independence.17 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/wollstonecraft_01.shtml

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Fawcett18 was the leader of that organisation, who is theconsidered to be the pioneer of Modern Feminism. In the verybeginning of 20th century another campaign, Women’s Social andPolitical Union (WSPU) became quite popular. After theoutbreak of First World War, the major development wasachieved in The PEOPLE ACT 1918, where first time in thehistory, women over age of 30 years were given equally rightto vote like men. 1919 Sex Disqualification removal Acteliminated hurdles for women to seek divorce and then in 1923grounds of divorce became equal as prior to that men had toprove only one sole ground such as adultery, while women hadto prove that he was guilty of incest, bigamy or 'unnaturalvice'19. Unsurprisingly, only four British women had everobtained a divorce, compared with 318 men. However, the majordevelopment of that time was Representation of the People Act1928, the Act allowed women over 21 “Right to Vote”.20 In1929, age of marriage was raised from 12 to 16 to eliminatechild marriages for girls. After Second World War, there weremany movements worldwide and after the formation of UnitedNations, British women had an international forum where theycould raise voice for women’s rights. That was the periodwhere feminists movements played key role in achieving goalthat women rights are integral part of Human Rights. 1948 wasthe year when the General Assembly of the United Nationsadopted Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) onDecember 10, 194821. However, women still had a long struggleto achieve equal rights which gave a massive rise to feministcampaigns, because the bill of rights was not effective inprotecting women’s rights.From the 1960’s, there were major developments oninternational level. In fact, that time is known as second

18 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wnuwss.htm http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffragists/p/fawcett.htm 19 http://www.historyofwomen.org/timeline.html 20 http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/ 21 http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

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wave of feminism22. Professor Nicola Lacey23 describes thatfirst wave of feminist movement was a liberalist cause toachieve equal status in the society, while the second phasewas one of asserting difference and struggled to have laws totreat men and women as equal, but different. Women feministsof this era were mostly activists, lawyers, writers or legallytrained. However, some of them adopted the radical view offeminism. Therefore, it created the counter argument ofreturning to the argument that women were physically weakerthan men, hence a third period concerns the understanding oflegal and social relations.

The major development in the second phase was thedeclaration of the Elimination of Discrimination againstwomen, which was adopted in 1967. In 1970 in UK “Equal PayAct” brought a ray of light for women. 1975 Sex discriminationAct became law, same year Employment protection Act made itillegal to dismiss women on the grounds of pregnancy andestablished maternity leave. 1976 Domestic violence protectionAct gave protection to women who were meant to bear physicaltorture and humiliation at homes. In 1979 the Convention onthe elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) was adopted. CEDAW connects the idea of the rights ofwomen with the fundamental ideas of dignity and human worththat underlie that that men and women are equal in worth anddignity. However, the discrimination against women stillexists in many countries including the UK. Due to dualistapproach, the UK hasn’t incorporated CEDAW24 into her domesticsystem and has consistently refused to incorporate CEDAW bylegislation25. However, as a signatory of CEDAW, UK should belegally bound to implement the treaty's provisions throughnational legislation. In addition to the treaty itself, the UKhas also ratified the CEDAW optional protocol that is an add-on agreement which allows individuals to take their case to a22 Modern Feminist Thought: From the Second Wave to 'post-feminism' by Imelda Whelehan23 Unspeakable Subjects: Feminist Essays in Legal and Social Theory By Nicola Lacey24 http://www.scottishhumanrights.com/news/latestnews/article/concludingobservationscedaw 25 Women's Human Rights By Anne Hellum and Henriette Sinding Aasen, Hellum/Aasen

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UN committee that monitors the treaty's implementation if allnational avenues have been exhausted26.

The centrality of women’s rights to human rights wasaffirmed by the 1993 Vienna World Conference. In 1994, UNCommission on Human Rights appointed a special rapporteur onviolence against women and there were other major developmentsfor the rights of women after 1998 Human Rights Act. TheFemale Genital Mutilation Act27 was introduced in 2003 and wasgiven effect in March 2004. Therefore, it became illegal topractice, aid, abet, counsel or procure FGM28 on the girls whoare British Nationals or permanent residents of the UK. It isnoted by the government that stalking involves fear ofviolence or serious alarm and distress, therefore, someprovisions of Protection from Harassment Act 199729 wereupdated in November 2012 creating 2 new offences for stalkingin Protection of Freedoms Act 201230 under Sections 2A and 4Aof the 1997 Act. Moreover, in November 2012 the currentgovernment introduced new definition of domestic violence andabuse31, under new definition children over aged 16-18 arevictims of domestic abuse and violence if they facecontrolling, coercive, threating behaviour or physical tortureby their intimate partners or family members regardless ofgender or sexuality32. In 2010, Baroness Stern33 reviewed thehandling of rape and sexual violence complaints by publicauthorities34 prioritised the need for a greater focus onvictim care concurred with Dr Sara Payne35’s recommendationsthat justice for victims should not only focus on conviction

26 http://www.una.org.uk/content/bringing-womens-rights-home 27 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/31/contents 28 https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-in-the-uk#bills-and-legislation 29 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/40/contents 30 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/contents/enacted 31 https://www.gov.uk/domestic-violence-and-abuse#domestic-violence-and-abuse-new-definition 32 https://www.gov.uk/domestic-violence-and-abuse#domestic-violence-and-abuse-new-definition 33 http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/baroness-stern/2475 34http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110608160754/http://www.equalities.gov.uk/PDF/ Stern_Review_acc_FINAL.pdf 35 Dr Sara Payne is a British media campaigner on violence against women.

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of the defendant but they must be supported by society aswell36. There is another development in rape cases, Section 41of Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 199937 protectscomplainants in proceedings involving sexual offences byrestricting evidence or questions about their previous sexualhistory, subject to exceptions38.

However, very recently, the UK has been assessed39 byRashida Manjoo40, UN Special Rapporteur on the causes andconsequences of violence against women. She said that "Despitemany positive developments, violence against women remains apervasive challenge throughout the United Kingdom.41" Herfurther observations showed concerns on worrying statistics onthe levels of violence against women in England and Wales that30 per cent of women in reported had experienced domesticabuse and 77 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners in 2012/13 (according to the Home Office and Officefor National Statistics).

Therefore, United Nations Association of the UnitedKingdom (UNA-UK) puts headline on their website that“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, especially now it seems42…”According to United Nations Associations of the UnitedKingdom, unemployment in females has reached highest in last25 years yet those who work earns fifteen percent lesser thanmen. Only in Croydon, domestic violence cases raised 13.4% inthe year 2012-2013, which is 1043 cases reported “violencewith injury” up from 903 in 2011-2012. According to the36 http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/news_show.php?id=41 37 http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/rape_and_sexual_offences/yjcea_1999/ 38 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/contents 39http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp/www.wmo.int/story.asp? NewsID=47473&Cr=gender+equality&Cr1=#.U08ilvldWTN 40 http://www.ohchr.org/en/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/RashidaManjoo.aspx says that Britain is most sexist country in the world after her recent visit to UK. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10770973/Is-Rashida-Manjoo-right-that-Britain-is-the-most-sexist-country-in-the-world.html?fb 41 http://www.una.org.uk/news/14/04/update-un-expert-violence-against-women-concludes-official-uk-visit 42 http://www.una.org.uk/news/12/10/making-cedaw-count-how-un-can-help-women-uk . Accessed on 16/04/2014. 23:26 PM

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official figures, in whole London, Croydon has the highestnumber of rapes, sexual offences and domestic violence cases43.Overall, more than six thousands allegations of domestic abusewere noted in Croydon in year 2011-2012. From 2012 to 2013published by the ONS it is estimated that around 1.2 millionwomen in UK suffered domestic abuse and over 330,000 womenwere sexually assaulted44.

Another statistics provided by Co-ordinated actionagainst domestic abuse45 (CAADA) says that around one third ofhomicide victims were women in the year 2010/2011, an averageof 2 women a week were killed by male and/or formal partners,and approximately 1000 of women in (2011/2012) were at highrisk of serious harm or murder as a result of domestic abuse.In 2010/2011 almost 18% of all violent incidents reported inEngland and Wales (Chaplin &Smith, 201146) 7% of women and 5%of men reported DA in 2010/ 2011. This is equivalent toapproximately 1.2 million female and 800,000 male victims ofDA (Smith, Osborne, Lau, & Britton, 2011). In 2010/2011,repeat victimisation accounted for 73% of all incidents ofdomestic violence, 44 % were victimised more than once and 24%of victims had been victimised three times or more (Chaplin etal., 201147).

The above discussion reflects that the UK has made majorprogress in making legislations to adequately deal with theissues of violence against women including rape, sexualharassment and domestic violence. However, the laws stillleave a major overhaul and lot of work is needed to bring themin conformity with International and United Nations standards.The UN treaties like CEDAW have yet to be ratified and fully43 http://insidecroydon.com/2013/06/01/domestic-violence-in-croydon-up-13-4-in-past-year/ 44 https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-in-the-uk 45 http://www.caada.org.uk/policy/statistics.html . Accessed on 16/04/2014 23.43 PM 46 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/116417/hosb1011.pdf

47 Ibid

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implemented. The feminist movements have played an importantrole but there is still a long way to go as the statisticsstill paint a grim picture. Though, there has been goodimprovement but women are still treated as second classcitizens and wage laws are still yet to be fully implemented.A collective and sustained effort is needed to achieve thedesired goals to fight violence against women and to achieveequality of women in the society.

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Appendix B: Email correspondence

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Appendix C: PowerPoint slides

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Appendix D: Presentation Certification

Already submitted by Middlesex College of Law in March 2014

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Appendix E: Oral presentation – Assessment pro forma

Already submitted by Middlesex College of Law along with CD of Oral Presentation including PowerPoint slides in March 2014