According to the charity Women’s Aid, statistics show that nearly a third of women in the UK have experienced domestic abuse in some form. Ministers have called it a ‘national emergency’ and yet women who decide to press charges against their abuser can find themselves in an extremely precarious position once they are in court.

Dr Charlotte Proudman is a renowned barrister and activist who has vast experience representing female victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault in family court, which she has detailed in a book called ‘He Said She Said’. The book looks at some of the shocking findings for cases she has worked on - and their detrimental effects on mothers and children, as well as some of the landmark wins - getting the term ‘gaslighting’ defined as a form of domestic abuse in court, for example.

Today she joins Stephanie to talk about where the family court system fails to support victims and to understand the nuances of what domestic abuse can look like - and in turn, how this has a huge knock on effect for the safety of any children involved.

Please note: this episode contains topics of domestic abuse, sexual assault and child sexual abuse.

Resources & Links 

If you are a victim of domestic abuse or know someone is, you can find a list of resources provided by Right To Equality - Dr Charlotte Proudman’s non-profit organisation - here: https://righttoequality.org/survivor-resources/

Right To Equality: https://righttoequality.org/

Proudmans law firm: https://www.proudmans.com/

Follow Charlotte: https://www.instagram.com/drproudman/

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Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: Dr Charlotte Proudman

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at PodShop studios