FiLiA Statement on the Enhanced Domestic Abuse Bill introduced to Parliament

We are pleased to see the new DA bill receive its first reading in the House of Commons today. The long-awaited Bill is a welcome addition to protections for women experiencing abuse. 

We will be pleased to see Nicole Jacobs our new Domestic Abuse commissioner given her statutory powers to hold services and agencies to account. It’s provisions around ending cross examination in family proceedings cannot come soon enough. The introduction of economic abuse into the definition will help encapsulate the broad range of abusive tactics used by perpetrators.

We recognise that the statutory duty on local authorities could be crucial in saving lives and preserving women’s safety, all positive outcomes of the Bill. We are however concerned that without adequate funding for women’s services and woman-only services the bill will not offer the protection it hopes to. We need a meaningful choice of services to ensure that they can meet the diverse needs of women subjected to abuse.

The Bill does not yet address the needs of Migrant women. If women have to balance concerns for their safety with those of their immigration status then we have not provided equity on protection it brings to mind Audre Lorde’s quote  “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”

Unless we have provision to make us all safe – none of us are.

Response by Sally Jackson, Violence Against Women and Girls specialist