Racism, the Neoliberal Agenda and Violence against Women and Girls in Britain

Amrit Wilson (Activist/Author)

I will look at the British state’s policies on violence against women and girls in the context of two main strands of its neoliberal agenda – the cut backs in public expenditure and privatisation on the one hand and the War on Terror with its ideology of Islamophobia on the other. Against this background I would explore the intersection of race and gender in, for example, the evolution of the Forced Marriage legislation, the infrastructure of the 2004 Domestic Violence Act, the so-called 'grooming scandals', and sexual abuse in immigration detention centres. I will examine the ways in which the British state's shift from preventative to punitive policies in the context of violence against women and girls has affected the work of voluntary sector organisations, women's agency and feminist activism.

Amrit Wilson is a writer and activist on issues of gender and race in Britain and South Asia. Her books include Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain, Virago 1978 and Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain, Pluto Press, 2006.

Organiser: Gina Heathcote

Contact email: gh21@soas.ac.uk

Contact Tel: 020 7898 4367