Family courts show ‘widespread’ gender bias and victim-blaming, report finds

A report has found “widespread and concerning evidence” of bias and victim-blaming in the family courts – primarily disadvantaging women. The report, Scratching the Surface: Victim-Blaming and Bias in Family Court Judgments, by the nonprofit organisation Right to Equality, will be shared with MPs on Tuesday at an event in parliament. Its analysis of 91 published family law judgments in England and Wales found “widespread and concerning evidence of victim-blaming language and attitudes – often directed towards mothers”. It found that 72.5% of all judgments contained at least one instance of judicial victim‑blaming, and also evidence of gender bias, with “mothers’ behaviour scrutinised intensely while the fathers’ conduct was contextualised or minimised”. Across the 91 judgments, 66 contained victim-blaming language, with 530 instances of victim‑blaming in total made by court professionals, primarily judges. The report’s authors expressed concern the data suggested harmful attitudes could influence judicial decision‑making, “including reliance on rape myths, stereotyping, or overt scepticism toward mothers”. Rose*, who has been in and out of family court since 2014, said she “absolutely, without a doubt” felt she had been treated differently because of her gender, while her ex-partner “wasn’t scrutinised at all”. “He was allowed to sort of laugh and scoff and mock while we were in court, so he wasn’t in any way held to account for the behaviours that he exhibited,” she said. …