Baroness Hale's Women's Rights speech published by The Supreme Court: Evening Standard 'Systemic failures in sex attack and rape cases, most senior judge warns'

[R0wantrees]

18/1/2019 Evening Standard Article by MARTIN BENTHAM Home Affairs Editor

(extract)
"The country’s most senior judge warned that “the battle for female equality” has yet to be won as she highlighted the lack of successful prosecutions for sex attacks and “systemic failures” in rape investigations.

In a speech on women’s rights Baroness Hale, the president of the Supreme Court, also said that domestic abuse was “too common”, the gender pay gap was “much larger than it should be”, and there were “too few women at the top of various professions”.

Her comments were published today by the Supreme Court. (continues)

She said that “successful prosecutions in cases of sexual assault are rare in proportion to the complaints made” and that systemic failures in investigation had been “vividly illustrated” in the case of black-cab rapist John Worboys.

Lady Hale added: “Domestic violence and abuse is still all too common and, according to a recent study, a frequent reason why women lose their children into the care system.”

She also said “the improved financial rights available on divorce are under threat on the assumption that women no longer need their protection”.

And she pointed out that changes in the benefits system have had a “much more serious impact upon lone parents, who are overwhelmingly women”.

Lady Hale also said that women were “being shaken out of the complacent view that all is well and they can have it all”, adding: “As Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, has said, ‘Who wants to have it all when the men can still choose the best bits?’ ”

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/systemic-failures-in-sex-attack-and-rape-cases-most-senior-judge-warns-a4042666.html

[LangCleg]

Full speech:

www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-181129.pdf

In an otherwise great speech, she seems to think that this is a good thing:

Sex offences are now defined in gender-neutral ways.

Ho hum!

[NothingOnTellyAgain]

I think that is probably more to do with it not being specifically women (or men eg buggery offence which is no more) that are stipulated in the laws - recognising that men can be and are victims.

Rape is still possession of a penis so gender neutral (ha!) but not sex neutral at all!

[womanformallyknownaswoman]

I've only scanned it and will digest it at length later. She obviously knows all the pressures that societal and interpersonal coercive control has on women which modifies their behaviour in the face of male violence, entitlement and sexism. She acknowledges how then this behaviour of women's is misconstrued by the law, the legal process and many of its actors, including many jurors. She recognises the systemic misogyny written into law for crimes against women (and children).

So why can't she lead a working party to redraft the relevant law, bit by bit, so that this is rectified - who authorises something like that? How could we make that happen?