In 2019, we read, watched, and listened to catastrophic cases of women being assaulted and abused, with the relevant legal systems providing little relief.

Bethany Dawson, The Independent

Among the range of heartbreaking news stories which flooded in as push notifications in 2019, we read, watched, and listened to catastrophic cases of women being assaulted and abused, with the relevant legal systems providing little relief. Failure was all too common and 2020 must not be the same.

The year ended with the case of a 19-year-old British woman who has been charged with public mischief, at a court in Paralimni, as per her accusation of gang-rape being heeded as false despite her claim that she had evidence to the contrary and the defendants’ denials. The judge who said that her trial was not a trial about the rape allegation.  

The woman’s lawyers argued that the statement retracting the original allegation was signed after hours of questioning by detectives in a police station that was neither recorded nor attended by a lawyer. The woman said in court that the police had forced her to change her story, telling the judge she was “scared for my life”.  

The UK government has said it will raise concerns about the fairness of the trial with Cypriot authorities. Meanwhile the woman’s defence lawyer, Nicoletta Charalambidou, has said they will appeal the judgement, adding: “We believe there have been many violations of procedure and the rights of a fair trial,”

Also in 2019, the popular discourse around the murder of backpacker Grace Millane in New Zealand focused more on her sexual history and reported sexual preferences, rather than the fact she was murdered and her body was found in a suitcase: acts that some attempted to justify through using her presence on BDSM dating sites. Indeed, the defence team for the 27-year-old convicted of the crime said that Grace Millane died accidentally during “rough sex”.

In Pakistan there was the killing of Maya – a transgender woman – who had moved away from her family home and was living with friends. Police allowed her family to take Maya home, but friends were worried and wanted written assurances about her safety. Local police said that the father had given them written assurance that he wouldn’t harm Maya.

Maya’s body was found some time after. In the last few months nearly a dozen people have been arrested over the death including Maya’s father, her brother, uncle and other members of the extended family. In statements to court, they all denied having killed Maya. All have been released on bail.

One can likely assume that if a system had been built to support Maya, and other women, she would still be in a position of safety.

Expanding our view to address other years, 2018 saw the underwear of a 17-year-old girl in a court in Northern Ireland being used as evidence against her during an alleged rape case. The barrister representing the man accused suggested the jury in the case should reflect on the underwear worn by the teenager. The man was acquitted.

In 2017, the allegations against Harvey Weinstein surfaced, in turn starting a domino effect of women coming forward to testify about their own accusations. In doing so, many broke non-disclosure agreements and told long-kept secrets to their loved ones and family. The breaking of the story ignited the #MeToo movement and saw many people from a variety of backgrounds take the choice to make their allegations of sexual assault public, despite Weinstein’s protestation that all sexual contact was consensual.

As we start 2020, we will see Harvey Weinstein tried in court. Weinstein denies all charges against him. It will also bring the senate trial of Donald Trump, and, whilst the trial as part of the political impeachment process and is not on the grounds of sexual misconduct, it will nevertheless be a landmark decision against a president with multiple accusations of sexual assault against him. Trump denies all allegations made against him.

Understanding what can be done going forward can be facilitated by looking back to a discussion held on 31 October between three of the women who came forward as sources in the Harvey Weinstein allegations story in the New York Times — Rowena Chiu, Zelda Perkins, and Laura Madden — and Jodi Kanto and Megan Twohey, the two journalists who first broke it. A significant theme of the discussion was the importance of breaking the silence where possible, with Laura Madden saying it is part of a systematic change that needs to occur, adding to her previous point that she was “speaking out on behalf of women who can’t because their livelihood and marriages depend on [their silence]”.

The message everyone should take is not just that women should speak up and come forward if it is safe to do so, but that everybody should support women who do come forward. Listen to women, believe women. Taking this notion forward is one of the things that the events of the past year, the past decade and beyond, implore us to do.

It is customary to wake up afresh on 1 January and wipe the slate clean, moving on from the events of the past year. But holding on to the memory of the stories of these women, remembering what they have been through, is vital in helping ensure that mistakes do not happen.