Fawcett: new law must end institutional sexism in criminal justice system (24/07/06)

A new equality law must bring an end to institutional sexism in the criminal justice system, according to reports published today by the Fawcett Society.

The new gender equality duty puts a duty on public bodies to promote equality between women and men.

The duty is the most radical change to sex discrimination law for 30 years. To be introduced in April next year, it follows the introduction in 2001 of a similar public sector race equality duty after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and the introduction of a disability equality duty, which will come into force in December this year.

Fawcett’s publications

Fawcett’s new report Understanding your duty lays out how the law should affect the criminal justice system. The companion guide Doing your duty advises policy makers and practitioners in the system on how to start preparing ahead of the introduction of the new law.

Dr Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society said: “We still have a man-made justice system, designed by men for men. It fails to protect victims of rape and domestic violence, does not address the causes of women’s offending and has led to a doubling of the women’s prison population in the past ten years. The system also creates a glass ceiling for women working as police officers, lawyers or in other roles."

“There’s been some good progress in some areas in recent years, but the new gender equality duty should be a catalyst to transform the system to make it fairer to women and men.”

Problems the new law should address include:

• Crisis levels of violence against women
  
  
• The lack of community provision for women accused or convicted of offences
  
  
• Low numbers of women in positions of power and responsibility throughout the criminal justice system

Background on the duty

The gender equality duty will apply to every organisation providing a public service, even if it is in the private or voluntary sector.

The gender equality duty will represent a significant shift from the current individual, complaints-driven approach of tackling discrimination once it has happened, to a more positive, proactive approach where the burden rests with the public body to address inequality in the first place.

The gender equality duty does not mean that women and men must be always treated in the same way. It means that they should be treated appropriately, according to need. The result might be different services and policies for women or men only.