The second annual conference on Gender Justice and Intersectional Practice took place this Wednesday on the 3rd of December in Ipswich.
It was organised by domestic violence charity P.H.O.E.B.E, formerly known as the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre, and had around 200 attendees. The conference welcomed speakers presenting both academic research alongside advice on the support resources available. Notably, the conference also included video messages from Dame Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, and Sahle-Work Zewde, former president of Ethiopia.
One of the key speakers, Sanskriti Sanghi, Communications, Policy and Strategic Litigation manager for Southall Black Sisters, presented new research carried out by her not-for-profit in partnership with the Invisible Women Campaign (Killed Women). The report, named Invisible Women “Made Visible”, details that:
- In the UK, a woman is killed roughly every three days, and one in five homicides are domestic
- Over the past decade, 78% of women killed in domestic homicides were murdered by a partner or ex-partner, and more than nine out of ten women killed, were killed by men.
- Of the 369 female domestic homicide victims recorded by the UK government between 2020 and 2024, 88 (24%) were from Black, minoritised and/or migrant (BMM) backgrounds, who formed 18% of the UK population in the 2021 census.
- In London, 62% of femicide victims in 2023 were Black, despite Black women comprising only around 14% of the city’s female population.
- All but two of the women killed by a man in London in 2023 were BMM women.
The statistics are clear: not only is femicide a nationwide issue, but it is an issue that disproportionately impacts, and kills, BMM women. The report also explains that many BMM women often fall through the gaps in society because of their position at the intersect of different kinds of oppression, leaving them unable to claim the help they should be entitled to.
The report gives the example of the no-recourse-to-public-funds (NRPF) condition of some migrant women that denies them access to much of the social security and housing benefits available to other women. This also excludes them from the right to accommodation under the Homelessness Act. As a result, perpetrators and abusers can use this as a further form of power and manipulation, leaving BMM women trapped in life-threatening situations.
The conference in Ipswich provided a public platform for this research to be presented, creating a space for learning as well as educating on issues that are often left in the dark. P.H.O.E.B.E owns the only refuge and safe space for victims fleeing violence in this region of the country. By hosting this conference, they also created another safe space – one where resources and information were shared, connections were made, and BMM women took centre stage.
Change starts with education, and this conference as well as the report will hopefully mark another step towards progress, to save the lives of BMM women.