This report is important in being the first that explores the impacts of the ongoing debate on sex and gender on their provision, and is informed by the experiences and expertise of leaders in the field. It reveals how the polarisation of the debate has created real problems on the ground, making it harder to provide and run women-only services, and ultimately harming vulnerable women. To be effective, specialist services must be tailored to the needs of different groups, and this is recognised in and allowed for by the Equality Act.
Male violence against women and girls is no longer brushed under the carpet, as it used to be — in large part because women have organised, spoken out and demanded change. The sector is still seriously underfunded, and these organisations still face all these challenges.
Trans lobby groups demand that female-only spaces are opened to men who identify as women — and pressure commissioners and donors to withdraw funding if providers refuse. The result, as this important report shows, is a sector where bullying and coercion have become rife.
Yes, they are, but the figures are clear: most of the perpetrators are men. Making progress means facing down the age-old tendency for people to obfuscate when faced with male violence.
It means speaking openly and clearly about women and men. It means collecting sex-differentiated statistics so the scale and pattern of the problem are clearly understood. It is obvious from everything we know about trauma and recovery that women survivors need single-sex spaces. Other groups need specialist services, too. For a woman who experiences domestic or sexual abuse, it is often a huge step to report it — or even to talk about it at all.
