Women's Views on News |
- How to fight the myth of false rape claims
- Women coaching sportsmen
- New Labour post to help women and girls
| How to fight the myth of false rape claims Posted: 28 Aug 2014 06:42 AM PDT
It is a common misconception that false allegations of rape are common, yet the suggestion that survivors frequently claim they have been raped when they have not is repeated time and again in the course of discussions around rape. In particular, demands that men accused of rape and sexual offences should be entitled to the same anonymity as complainers are linked with claims that allegations of this kind are often spurious and false, and that women's accounts of their experiences of sexual violence should be treated with scepticism. These ideas have sometimes been amplified by individual police officers, by the men's rights movement, and by popular culture, where references to women 'crying rape' have gained much credence in recent years – and done a great deal of damage. There is no research basis for these assumptions, though their grip within popular discourse on sexual violence is in some quarters considerable, as is the resultant damage to survivors and their chances of obtaining justice. It is a scepticism which has no equivalent in any other crime type, and research undertaken in recent years has revealed that false complaints are no more common in cases of rape than they are for other crimes. The truth is that false allegations of rape occur with no more frequency than they do for other crimes, and in order to gain a full understanding of the facts, we must look at cases in detail – and ask the right questions. What do we mean by false reporting? Statistics purporting to record false allegations of rape often include cases which were 'no crimed'. This conflation pushes up the figure for false allegations, skewing the picture significantly. The grounds under which a case may be 'no-crimed' do include false allegations, but there are other and complex factors which may also lead to this designation, and it is important that these are applied consistently. In some cases which are 'no crimed' no evidence was found of assault, often following a period of complete incapacity (for example through drink or drugs) on the part of the alleged victim, the initial suspicion either having been raised by them or by someone else on their behalf. A suspicion that something may have taken place is not the same thing as a false allegation, and the discovery to the contrary can be a cause of real relief among those raising that suspicion with the police. In Scotland, guidelines state that a crime must remain recorded (i.e. cannot be 'no-crimed') "unless there is credible evidence to disprove that a crime had occurred". In many cases, the decision to classify a case as a 'false allegation' is taken solely by the police, and research has shown that other factors such as mental health, alcohol and drugs, and previous allegations have often played a significant role in this decision. Again, assumptions made about the credibility of complainers very much feed into this process; it is not only in court that prejudicial attitudes can militate against survivors seeking justice for rape – these attitudes can also prevent them from getting there in the first place. It is also vital to make a distinction between false allegations and retractions. Women do sometimes retract allegations of rape, but there can be many different reasons for doing so, and it should never be read as an admission that the allegation was false. It is just as possible that this has come about because of fear of or a lack of confidence in the justice process – or fear of the alleged perpetrator, as in the case of the Powys woman who was jailed in 2010 after retracting an allegation of rape by her husband. The appeal judge in this case commented: "The difference between the culpability of the individual who instigates a false complaint against an innocent man and the complainant who retracts a truthful allegation against a guilty man will often be very marked." Even among the tiny number of complaints which those who make them later confess to be false, the context sometimes reveals them to have been made out of utter desperation, as in the example cited in Kelly's research of a young Asian woman trying to avoid being taken to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. What is the reality? An extensive study into rape case attrition undertaken by Kelly et al in 2005 concluded that the figure of 8 per cent (of 2264 cases studied over a 2-year period) designated 'false allegations' was not in fact accurate. Instead, when the cases deemed to be 'false allegations' were analysed in detail, and Home Office guidelines on classifying them as such correctly applied (allowing only those cases which could be coded 'probable' and 'possible' to be included in the final figure, and excluding those – where the decision had been based on the victim's perceived credibility which were 'uncertain') 3 per cent emerged as the correct figure. A study produced by the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales in March 2013 revealed that over a 17-month period between January 2011 and May 2012 – when all false allegation cases were referred to the DPP – there were 5,651 prosecutions for rape, but only 35 for making false allegations of rape. As Stephen House, Chief Constable of Police Scotland explains: "From a police perspective there is nothing to suggest either anecdotally or evidentially, that false reporting of rape is prevalent, in fact such cases are very rare. "We recognise that there are many reasons why a victim would subsequently withdraw from the criminal justice process and we are trying to get a better understanding of why that is and what we can do to improve confidence in the system. "What we do know however is that of those rape cases that we later reclassify as no crime, only a very small proportion of those are as a result of a false report, so few in fact that ordinarily the statistics would merit no further debate." In Scotland, all rape reports marked 'no crime' are now reviewed by the National Rape Task Force Rape Review Team. What are the consequences? The perception that large numbers of allegations of rape are false is very damaging to women, and to survivors of rape in particular. It reinforces prejudicial attitudes to complainers – for whom the barriers to justice are already considerable, with women already scrutinized and judged on many irrelevant factors (dress, flirting, alcohol consumption etc) – even when an allegation is taken seriously. It is the evidence, not the complainer, which must be tested and examined. But popular myths that women cannot be trusted perpetuate a relentless focus on their motives, sexual history, demeanour, credibility and behaviour, leaving perpetrators able to remain unchallenged by comparison, in relative obscurity. In some cases, this has allowed serial offenders (as in the cases of John Worboys and Kirk Reid) to act with total impunity and continue attacking women, sometimes for many years, as a result of doubt being cast on the words of their victims. The principle that an accused man is innocent until proven guilty should not mean that women should be presumed in many cases to be liars. The low level of reporting among rape victims is already to a large degree attributable to a fear among many that they will not be believed – and a grossly exaggerated perception of the extent to which false allegations of rape occur only makes this worse, exacerbating the fear many women considering reporting experience, that they will not be believed if they do. Conversely, there is no evidence that large numbers of men are being falsely accused of rape. What can be done? Establishing and consistent application of a clear and formal definition of what constitutes a 'false allegation'; Cases only ever 'no crimed' according to guidelines laid down by the Home Office (England and Wales) or in the Scottish Crime Recording Standard – SCRS (Scotland) – never on subjective and prejudicial assumptions; Detailed, comprehensive and consistent case-tracking to monitor the progress of all sexual offence cases; Raised public awareness of rape myths – including those surrounding false allegations; and Promotion of a culture of belief to aid confidence in reporting among survivors. For this is a fact: The rate of 'false allegations' made for rape stands at around 3 per cent – this is no higher than for any other crime.  |
| Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:20 AM PDT
This summer there were several high-profile appointments of women coaches at the highest level of sport. In May 2014, Helen Costa was appointed manager of French second division team Clermont Foot 63. Costa has a Masters degree in Sports Science, a UEFA A Licence and had previously managed the women's Benfica and Quatar teams. She has also worked as a scout for Scottish club Celtic and led Benfica's male youth team to two World Youth titles. But one month later, before the football season had started, and before she had been able to meet the players, Costa resigned, citing personal reasons. It has been reported that she said that she had been sidelined and prevented from making the decisions coaches should be allowed to make, in addition to being at the receiving end of misogynistic comments, including from the chairman who hired her. Costa's appointment was the first of a woman in the top two divisions of European football. The only other woman to have coached a professional men's football team in Europe was Carolina Morace, who managed the Italian third division team Viterbese in 1999. She quit after just two matches in charge, citing the problem of constant media pressure. Costa has since been replaced by former France captain Corinne Diacre. Diacre made 121 appearances for France between 1993 and 2005 and is a former assistant to the national team and manager of her former club, Soyaux. Clermont Foot 63 lost its first game with Diacre in charge. Their opponents were Brest, and the obvious sexist jokes were made. And questions have been raised about the pre-match action of Brest manager Alex Dupont, who presented Diacre with a bouquet of flowers. Most coaches do not receive flowers from the opposing coach. Diacre has already spoken out about the interest in her gender, saying it is 'over the top' and that she is 'trying not to get polluted by that… trying to maintain my focus as much as possible and stay as much in the shadows as possible because what interests me is that my players take the limelight, not me.' In tennis, Andy Murray made the headlines when he appointed former World No. 1 champion Amelie Mauresmo as his coach at the beginning of the summer grass court season. Mauresmo is a former Wimbledon and Australian Open champion. She and Murray have agreed an initial short-term contract. Women coaches remain rare in professional tennis, with the majority of female coaches either married to or the mother of the player. Murray's mother Judy coached both her sons when they were younger. Martina Navratilova, the winner of 18 grand slam tennis singles titles, said about Mauresmo's appointment, 'It widens the field and widens the possibilities. 'The ball doesn't know if you are male or female. The strategy is the same.' In England, Hope Powell, the former long-serving coach of the English women's national football team, became the first woman to gain the UEFA Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification available. Other women in prominent roles in professional sport include Eva Carneiro, Chelsea FC's first-team doctor, and Karren Brady, West Ham's vice chairman, and earlier this year, the UEFA Women in Football Leadership Programme (WFLP) was introduced to help accelerate the development of women in football executive positions. Women have the qualifications to coach at the highest levels, so recent appointments could be a positive sign of sport becoming a much more viable, and visible, career choice for women, in a variety of roles from playing to coaching and management.  |
| New Labour post to help women and girls Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:08 AM PDT
Seema Malhotra, MP for Feltham and Heston, is joining the Labour Party’s Shadow Home Affairs team as Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls. She will champion the needs of all victims of rape, domestic and sexual violence, as well as FGM, forced marriage, trafficking and prostitution. She will also play an important role in shaping Labour's Women's Safety Commission, working with Vera Baird and Diana Holland to develop proposals for legislation to tackle violence against women and girls, which will be prioritised by a Labour Government. This will include reforms to the criminal justice system, measures to improve women's safety and prevention of violence against women and girls. Malhotra is joining the Shadow Home Affairs team after Helen Jones MP stepped down from her position as Shadow Crime Prevention Minister at the end of July. Steve Reed will continue as Shadow Crime Prevention Minister, Diana Johnson as Shadow Minister for Crime and Security, Jack Dromey as Shadow Policing Minister and David Hanson as Shadow Immigration Minister. Malhotra will be the first Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls, indicating the priority that leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, and the Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, are giving to the issue. Government figures and those from Women’s Aid report that 89 per cent of the victims of intense, prolonged domestic abuse are women; the ONS survey last year recorded 473,000 victims of sexual offences and 404,000 of these were women; it is estimated that 85,000 women were raped last year and 12,000 men were raped; 1 in 5 women have been victims on a sexual offence since the age of 16, and 12.9 million incidents of domestic violence were recorded against women last year, compared to 2.5 million against men Miliband said: "Her appointment is another indication of the importance a Labour government will place on tackling violence against women and girls. "Yvette has rightly put this at the heart of her vision for the Home Office and I look forward to continuing working with her and Seema to ensure a Labour government can make a real difference to the lives of the victims of these terrible crimes." Yvette Cooper said Seema Malhotra had always been a champion of women's equality – from her campaigns promoting the work of women in business, to her hugely successful Presidency of the Fabian's Women's Network, which has done so much to improve representation of women and ethnic minorities in politics and public life. "I know she will bring all her experience and energy to lead our important work developing a strong policy platform to tackle violence against women and girls," Cooper continued. In response to her appointment, Malhotra said: "It is significant that Labour has made this issue such a priority and I look forward to working with colleagues to try and make a real difference to women who have experienced huge trauma in their lives. "The level of violence against women in Britain and indeed the world is shocking and too little is being done to prevent these crimes, support the victims and bring the perpetrators to justice."  |
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