Additional information. Protecting male victims and their children.
Report Stage: House of Commons
Domestic Abuse is not a gendered Crime
Please vote to ensure that the Domestic Abuse Bill does not become gendered. The “gendered approach” marginalises male and LGBT victims and perpetuates the falsehood that Domestic Abuse ‘overwhelming affects women’.
Crime survey figures
The ONS figures show that 35% of victims are male and that over 90% of their abusers are female. 1
Police report figures
About 10% of male victims and 26% of female victims report their abuse to the police. This means that there are about 10x as many actual male victims and about 4x as many actual female victims as report to the police. The police figures show about 3x as many women as men report abuse. This suggests that the actual figure for female:male victims is nearer 50:50. 2
Support for victims
At present around 99% of safe refuge places and funding are allocated to female victims. A gendered Bill would make that even worse for male victims.
Organisations, safe-spaces and budget
Supporting female victims: around 400 organisations, 4,500 safe spaces, £millions.
Supporting male victims: around 3 organisations, 45 safe spaces, £thousands.
Philip Davies amendments
Please support these amendments. These specify as forms of domestic abuse:
- parental alienation
- child contact obstruction
- false allegations of domestic abuse
Parental alienation: one parent encourages the child to break off contact with the other parent.
Child contact obstruction: one parent fails to comply with the agreement of contact on a regular basis.
False allegations of domestic abuse: these are often made after separation and are used to reduce contact or obtain more money from the other person. At present there are usually no consequences for the false-accuser when these claims are proven false.
Other amendments seek to ensure the gender-balance of the Bill
Note: These amendments do not diminish protection for female victims or children, but protect children from losing contact with their father (unless there are sufficient reasons).
Who drafted this page?
This page was drafted with the help of:
- Mike Bell – Equi-law UK
- Philip Tanzer – United4menUK
- Stephen Fitzgerald – Men and Women Working Together
- William Collins – author, The Empathy Gap
- Richard Leighton – domestic abuse survivor
2 ONS BCS Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2014/15 Appendix Table 4.2