What is to be done about violence against women? Social justice re-visited

The question which frames this lecture was first asked by Elizabeth Wilson in her book with the same title published in 1983. It remains as pertinent today as it was then. The vital question is: why? In the 40 years since the publication of Wilson's book there has been a plethora of policy activity - particularly focused on the law and its practices – and yet the problem of violence against women remains a public and a private commonplace. This lecture will offer an analysis of the presences and absences in responses to violence against women over the last 40 years with a view to reflecting on whose ‘justice’ interests have been served and the challenges that this poses. The lecture will consider how it might be possible to move the agenda forward in such a way as to render victim-survivor voices a meaningful presence, as opposed to a symbolic one, in order to deliver some semblance of social justice to them.

Sandra Walklate is Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology at the University of Liverpool. Since 2016, she has also been conjoint Chair of Criminology at Monash University in Victoria, Australia where she is a lead researcher within the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre. Her current work is focused on gender-based violence(s) and criminal justice policy responses. Recent publications include Coercive Control (with Charlotte Barlow) published by Routledge in 2022 and, with colleagues at Monash, Violence Against Women During Coronavirus - When Staying Home Isn’t Safe published by Palgrave in 2023. Sandra is currently President of the British Society of Criminology.

This event will take place in the SLSJ Events Space, ground floor.

Host or Publisher Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology