Existing & Working at the intersections: Racism, misogyny and other structural oppressions

I have been working in the field of ending violence against women for the past 10 years. One of the many important things that I have learned is that we are not supposed to exist. If hetronormtive abilist white patriarchy had its way, we would not be here.

Everyone working in this field will be well aware of the impact the political context has on our work. In particular the experience of Black and Minoritised women and survivors of male violence and the community led organisations that support them. This has been well-documented in Imkaan’s ‘State of the Sector,’ 2015, and ‘Capital Losses’ 2016 reports.

Austerity, the legacy of the global economic crises and the ascendancy of nationalist politics has resulted in the loss of up to 70% of domestic abuse and VAWG led organisations. This has meant survivors have fewer lifelines of support and places of refuge.

The commissioning environment has led to further competition for scarce resources between women’s organisations. The trend of illustrating what local authorities are commissioning for each pound awarded has led to an emphasis on short-term, high-risk reduction ‘triage’ services rather than sustained mid- to long-term support work to ensure the safety and re-building of women’s lives.

As a result, bigger non-BME, cultural or faith sensitive specialist organisations have either taken over smaller specialist BME-led (minoritised) services or worse created partnerships and consortia that replicate the unequal and unjust power dynamics found in society.

The increasing normalisation of racist and far-right narratives within the political and the social sphere has undoubtedly had an impact on the experiences of VAWG, particularly for women from Black, minoritised and faith backgrounds.

As the case of Shamima Begum illustrates, the language of feminism and women’s liberation has been weaponised by far-right movements such as the EDL and the Football Lad’s Alliance.

Increasingly women and survivors of sexual and domestic violence are used to score rhetorical political points and win popular following by MPs, councillors, far-right and so called liberal activists.

This is coupled with an assumption of a correlation between radicalisation and domestic abuse where it is argued that men who are likely to commit violence in the name of a political or ideological causes are also likely to be perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence. This perversely erases the most vulnerable of women, their needs and  the support they require. Further it instrumentalises them in a bigger showdown between the ‘goodies’ and the ‘baddies’.

And what about us, those from faith, ethnic and cultural backgrounds that are experiencing a rising tide of hate and abuse? And our safety and prosperity as women who have to exist, fight and stand in solidarity with the men of our own communities who experience discrimination and oppression and at times turn their pain against us?

All of the challenges I have outlined are taking place in the global context of increased hypermasculinity as a reaction to the popularisation of the #MeToo movement and the ascendancy of white supremacy as a political and cultural norm.

It means that we as workers exist and work against a rising tide of toxicity and harm that impacts us personally and professionally. So how then do we radically transform and dare I say it, end a system designed to extinguish us and the women and families we work to support?

I propose that we work from a place of integrity – honest and deep relationship building between us first and foremost and with the communities we are trying to support.  Connecting meaningfully–with women and communities in ways that matter to them . This enables the building of bridges between and within community groups and VAWG ending service providers in order to empower communities so that individuals gain confidence and know where they can receive support, help communities work together to respond to VAWG, DVA and enable leaders to act on social justice issues

We must work in solidarity and in allyship.