Women’s Centres Regional Partnership have produced a new report: Women’s Experiences of Violence: Mapping the Experiences and Responses, written by Anne McMurray. This report is the outcome of an innovative pilot project carried out by Anne McMurray on behalf of the WCRP and resourced by the Department for Social Development. 

The research sampled fifteen frontline organisations, including women’s centres, women’s aid refuges, social services and the PSNI, using narrative methods with staff to develop key themes which revealed the individual experiences and responses of women who have experienced violence.  Altogether 115 women’s stories were profiled using this method, which makes the study very rich in terms of understanding women’s experience of violence.

The report was launched by Monica McWilliams, Chief Commissioner of the NI Human Rights Commission, who was the first to research domestic violence in the 1990s. Representatives from DSD, DHSSPS, Falls Women’s Centre and Causeway Women’s Aid also spoke at the event, which was attended by over 50 people from a wide range of organizations.

Professor McWilliams emphasised the importance of the recommendations in the report. There was a great need for an advocate – someone to champion, support and listen to women; the importance of continuing to invest in the women’s sector and the importance of information sharing in the implementation of the Regional Strategy. DSD and DHSS had an important role in insisting on a victim centred approach within local communities.  The Bill of Rights had to address the ‘particular circumstances’ of Northern Ireland and for women this has to include the right to be free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence. She believed that the impact of conflict on women’s lives could not be underestimated and this has consequences in terms of the resources that need to be put into the community. There had to be a code for victims and there had to be an understanding of the rights of victims – the right to be informed, the right to redress, the right to support and a recognition of the need for financial assistance.  This last right should be extended to all women, including those who currently were deemed not to have the right to recourse to public funds. Bearing those costs should not be left to under-resourced women’s groups.  She challenged the ‘myth’ that there were as many male victims of domestic violence as there were female victims and called for resources to be directed towards the provision of more accurate data on domestic violence so that the reality of the situation could be known, including who is the instigator of the abuse.

The evidence contained in this report makes it a key document for both policy makers and services providers. Included are a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening policy and practice regarding women’s experience of violence. 

Copies of the report can be obtained from WRDA, by emailing: info@wrda,org or tel: 028 9023 0212.  To download the report, click here