Under capitalism, women are oppressed economically, play- ing a dual role as both unpaid domestic labourers and within the workforce. They have borne the brunt of austerity and cuts to services, increasingly forced into the role of carers as state welfare is slashed and marginalised within healthcare services. That role is reinforced through social repression that finds its expression in attacks on reproductive rights and, increasingly, violence and sexual abuse. Yet while in Britain police officially accept that sexual violence against women and girls is now at a level so acute it amounts to ‘a national epidemic’, in reality they, and the criminal justice system as a whole, consistently ignore or dismiss women who seek justice for crimes committed against them.
Two million violent crimes against women and girls were reported in England last year – a fifth of all reported violent crime; it is widely accepted that this represents only the tip of the iceberg. Official figures show a dramatic rise in reported incidents over the last 20 years. 67,928 rapes were reported in 2023/24, a sixfold increase compared to 2002/2003. While there has been a significant rise in the willingness of women to come forward, rape and violence remain notoriously underreported. A 2022 study found, for example, that 1 in 9 male university students admitted to having raped or sexually assaulted someone within the past two years; Rape Crisis research shows that 1 in 4 adult women is raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime; however, 5 out of every 6 women never report it.
It is not surprising that women are reluctant to report rape when the stakes are so high and the results so poor. The BBC found in 2022 that of 10,000 reported cases of rape in London, just 1,500 resulted in criminal charges – and 185 in convictions. The Victim’s Commissioner in her 2021/2022 report found that, while in the year to December 2021 there were 67,125 rape offences recorded – an all-time high – the number of completed prosecutions plummeted from 5,190 in 2016-17 to 2,409 in 2020-21.
Police are part of the problem
A survey of 891 police officers in Britain in 2008 found that half of them believed 50% of all reported rape cases were false, 10% believed the majority were false and some even believed close to 100% of them were false. More than ten years on, little has changed. A Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and Victims’ Commissioner Survey in 2021 showed that 14% of women did not report rape because they didn’t think the police would believe them, 42% had a previous bad experience with the police and 42% of those who did report said given the option they wouldn’t do so again. One study found 100% of participants said they felt discomfort when reporting to the police, feeling as though they were burdening them with a report. In many cases police officers would not take notes of the report and the whole process only took 10 minutes. They also consistently failed to recommend rape kits, wouldn’t interview or follow up on witnesses and regularly failed to update victims on the status of their cases. In addition, around 12% of reported rapes are dismissed as ‘no crime’ – meaning police decide that no offence has been committed.
In March 2023, the Casey report publicly exposed, once again, the toxic culture of misogyny and sexism that pervades the British police. This operates at every level – from the regular promotion of police officers accused of domestic violence or sexual violence to the growing list of violent serial rapists such as then serving Met officers Wayne Couzens, David Carrick and Cliff Mitchell on the force. Between March 2021, when Couzens raped and murdered Sarah Everard, and March 2024, 119 serving police officers were convicted for crimes against women including battery, rape, attempted rape and sexual assault; in 2023 there were 1,100 officers under investigation for sexual or domestic abuse in Britain.
Criminalising women
A further deterrent is the use of a criminal charge of Perverting the Course of Justice (PCJ), where you can be charged if they believe your complaint is false, you retract your allegation or withdraw a retraction, in other words, if they believe you are wasting their time. A person acquitted of rape can also pursue such charges against their accuser. In effect, women who report rape risk themselves being criminalised. One research paper found that over a five-year period in London, 109 women were charged with PCJ. One prominent case was that of Rhiannon Brooker. After the case against her ex-partner fell apart, police tricked her into making a statement undermining her case, partly because they feared he would sue them for unlawful arrest. Brooker was described as ‘wicked’ by the judge, sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment and separated from her baby. Gail Sherwood was kidnapped and raped twice by a stalker; she was found tied to a fence with multiple injuries yet was forced to retract her allegations after police botched the investigation by losing crucial evidence. She was sentenced to two years in prison just 17 days after her second rape. An additional factor in her persecution may well have been her strong suspicion that her attacker was a police officer, as during the assaults she could hear a police radio in the background.
Capitalism shores up the oppression of women with constant ideological assault, consistently commodifying women’s bodies whether through sex work, pornography or advertising. It creates the environment where sexual violence against women is not just tolerated but promoted. The Labour government spouts empty slogans about standing with women, but is cutting funding to Rape Crisis Centres and hostels that support women fleeing domestic abuse. The police and the courts reflect the same sexist contempt for women’s rights. Justice and dignity for women can only come by challenging this entire capitalist system that is designed to oppress us.
Maya Bula
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 303 December 2024 /January 2025
