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Commenting on the recommendations of the Tackling Violence against Women and Girls inquiry, to which she submitted written evidence, Professor Sonia Bhalotra said:

“The recommendations in the report are welcome, but could have gone further.

“I welcome the emphasis on prevention, but this should be extended beyond the focus on working with boys and girls in schools.

“Prevention-focused schemes which I am evaluating include the extension of unemployment benefits to men and women; incentives for employers to hire victims of abuse; community building to improve access to real-life social networks; expansion of IAPT or other access to mental health support; and changes to public opinion, alongside criminal justice reforms.

“The policy framework focuses on women and girls who have been victimized. For prevention we need to understand systematic drivers of VAWG in the full population-- all women are at risk.

“While it is good to see the report calling for the Home Office to ‘identify and share lessons learnt from local initiatives,’ a large research community is working to evaluate the success of VAWG policies in the UK, Europe and further afield. There are creative new strategies around the world which could inform UK policy once rigorously evaluated.

“At the same time, we are trying to understand the home and work environment to identify drivers of VAWG and, in this way, identify new policy interventions.

“This long-neglected issue is gaining policy salience the world over, and I look forward to seeing the Government’s response to the committee’s recommendations.”

NOTES

• The Committee's report is available here: Tackling Violence against Women and Girls
• Professor Bhalotra’s written evidence is available here: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/138304/html/
• Professor Bhalotra’s research on VAWG includes analysis of domestic violence and workplace sexual harassment. Her research investigates the importance of employment (or financial independence), social isolation, mental health problems, and exposure to misogyny on social media. Among policies she is evaluating are legislation that subsidises employers who hire victims of domestic abuse, and legislation that makes firms liable for workplace sexual harassment. Professor Bhalotra has a large ongoing programme of research on violence against women and girls (VAWG) for which she has been awarded 2.5 million euros by the European Research Council Advanced Grant scheme. The aim of this work is to produce a robust tapestry of evidence to guide policy and further scholarship in this domain.