Eve Was Framed: Women and British Justice

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For now, I’ll leave you with these words from Kripal on the fruit that he hopes is being born out of his work at the intersection of academic rigor and mystical experience. He hopes that Kennedy more or less fell into the law and the training for the Bar could only have been less hospitable to her if she hadn't been white. At the Inns of Court, she describes an overwhelmingly male and overtly misogynistic environment steeped in bizarre ritual. The percentage of women in the profession was small and confined to the lower ranks, with hardly any women ascending to the bench (becoming judges). The statistics were even more dire for people of colour whether female or male. In my twenties, I faced fertility issues, stemming from polycystic ovaries. Oh, so maybe I was right to ask about the pain I had since I was 16. Interesting. I didn’t know the term medical gaslighting at that time or that women are far more likely to have our symptoms dismissed or ignored.

As I moved through my later forties and perimenopause symptoms began, I asked my doctor about ways to alleviate them. Menopause tea, supplements, and cooling sheets. Seriously? And no one I knew was talking about it. Helena Kennedy forensically examines the pressing new evidence that women are still being discriminated against throughout the legal system, from the High Court (where only 21% of judges are women) to female prisons (where 84% of inmates are held for non-violent offences despite the refrain that prison should only be used for violent or serious crime). In between are the so-called ‘lifestyle’ choices of the Rotherham girls; the failings of the current rules on excluding victims’ sexual history from rape trials; battered wives being asked why they don’t ‘just leave’ their partners; the way statistics hide the double discrimination experienced by BAME and disabled women; the failure to prosecute cases of female genital mutilation… the list goes on. The law holds up a mirror to society and it is failing women. Sexuality was briefly referenced, but there was no reference to the complexities of gender in terms of trans and non-binary people's experiences, or to the experiences of disabled women who are also disproportionately likely to experience violence. I also found the constant references to 'battered women' very uncomfortable, but I also appreciate that this book was written in the 90s when the term was commonly used. I'd be interested to see if she's dropped that term in her recent follow up Eve Was Shamed: How British Justice is Failing Women. Similarly, consider that God is depicted in this story very much like a stereotype of the parent of a young child, who is too young to know the difference between good and evil. Adam and Eve are told not to eat the forbidden fruit “Because I told you so!” And God — as many parents have — tells an exaggerated “white lie” (“if you eat of the fruit you’ll die!”) to try to keep them away from adult matters they are too young to understand. When you hear Women’s Health, is it only reproductive organs and, maybe, breast health, that come to mind? Defining women’s health solely through the lens of gynecological or reproductive health is too narrow. Embracing a broader definition which includes how diseases impact women differently, how the healthcare system treats women differently, and the pink tax we pay.It was in 2012 when the deceased celebrity entertainer Jimmy Savile was exposed as a paedophile and gross abuser of women and children that we seemed to reach a tipping point. As more cases emerged, suddenly the institutions – from the BBC to Parliament, from hospitals and schools to young offender institutions, from local authorities to universities and churches, all of which had colluded in keeping the lid on such crimes – were in retreat. Every one of these pillars of rectitude had put institutional reputation ahead of safeguarding women and children. The outrage was so deeply felt and the torrent of memories, anger and sorrow so great that a public debate raged, of a kind that had never taken place before. A public inquiry was set up by the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, in recognition of the extent of the problem. I kept hearing the same questions. How could so many predators have got away with it? Why did people do nothing? Was it because things were different then? Conversely, another riveting (and disturbing) contemporary parallel is the 2009 Greek film Dogtooth about parents, who keep their children cloistered inside their walled property, completely cut off from the “knowledge” of the outside world. This film can be read as a tale of what happens if you stay in the Garden too long and the forbidden fruit is not eaten, such that adult knowledge about morality and sexuality is repressed, forcing it to come out in twisted ways. I think, too, about reading and watching the coverage not so long ago about the great athlete Oscar Pistorius, who shot his girlfriend in a fit of rage, or the footballer Ched Evans, who was acquitted on a retrial of rape, having been given the heads-up by a friend that there was a young woman available for sex who just happened to be very drunk, or the politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who walked away from a sexual assault allegation on an immigrant hotel worker claiming it was consensual, only to be later exposed as a man with an unquenchable appetite for aggressive sex with strangers. All these men were able to rally huge public support. I think of John Warboys, the taxi driver who was responsible for the assault of legions of women but was considered suitable for release by the Parole Board after nine years. Then there is Donald Trump, who boasted on tape that he liked to ‘grab women by the pussy’ and admitted he could do so without any consequences because of his power and fame; who also said that he thought women who had abortions deserved ‘some form of punishment’. He then went on to become president of the United States, supported by swathes of men but also a large number of women who think he speaks for them. I read and watch female journalists, paid assassins, turn on women who speak out about the ways in which lecherous men grope them, or I hear senior women at the Bar say that young women who complain of roaming hands should not consider a career in law if they cannot deal with it, and then I wonder how long it will take before there is equality. For millennia women have been made to feel shame. They have been told that what happens to them is their fault and it is they who are blamed for their failures, their shortcomings, their conduct. That is the power of patriarchy. Male dominance is maintained by this stuff. Women are made to feel soiled. They absorb feelings of guilt. The voice in their heads is mouthing cultural norms created by men and sold to women. ‘It must have been something about me that made him do that to me.’ Eve Was Shamed outlines solutions as well as problems, including improved diversity and training within the entire justice system. This creates a note of hope that means the book doesn’t feel too pessimistic. New Fawcett research out for Equal Pay Day 2023 shows why making flexible work the default is essential to closing the gender pay gap.

Content Warnings: murder, violence, rape, domestic violence, physical/emotional/sexual abuse, coercive control, misogyny, transphobia, infant death, child abuse, trauma, reference to mental illness and self-harm. This may be a difficult read for some – use caution. But it’s not just about cuts. It’s also about failing to design the justice system around women’s unpaid work. Little attention is given, writes Kennedy, to things like scheduling probation appointments during school hours, and research has revealed that “women’s childcare responsibilities are impacting on their ability to comply with their community sentences”. And women who fail to comply often end up in prison – “even where the original offence would never have merited a custodial sentence”. A really important book. Viscerally highlights all the key areas in which women are disadvantaged and discriminated against by the law which is adjudicated by the mostly “male and pale” judiciary. Wow, this book really hammers home the realisation that work is still needed to achieve equality. It is impossible not to be angered by the outdated, almost interrogative enquiries that female crime victims are subjected to by judges. It sometimes seems as if they are the ones on trial!

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The structure of this book is an issue, with chapters being overly long and occasionally rambling. Long discussions about Myra Hindley and Rose West do not seem to reach any particularly insightful conclusions which the reader may not already hold. Having entered the university through a diversity programme (I was one of the few state school students on the course), I can appreciate the importance of such programmes. They couldn’t keep me there, but at least they got me there in the first place! The Fawcett Society is the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights. If you believe in a society where no one is prevented from reaching their full potential because of their gender, join us today.