The really scary story about gender equality

(Domestic violence trigger warning)

Happy Halloween, readers. Would you like to hear a scary story?

For some, the spookiest story of this Halloween is this, in the Mail. Apparently, the female members of the Shadow Cabinet have started having the odd meeting, separate from the rest of Ed’s team, specifically to discuss the impact of coalition policies on women.

It’s the stuff of the Mail’s nightmares. A coven of powerful women, meeting in private – possibly on a blasted heath – cackling about equality, stirring a cauldron full of Ken Livingstone’s eyes, conspiring to destroy Ed Miliband, feast upon his still-twitching corpse and then install Yvette Cooper in his place.

And, of course, as usual, some (mostly male) Labour members have eaten this up, flinging their hands up and exclaiming in horror as though there was an eight-year-old on their doorstep dressed as a ghost. Emma Burnell has already written here to point out that there’s nothing to be scared of, so I won’t go over all that again. I’ve got a really scary story for you.

At this time of year you’re meant to expect scary things at your door. It reminds me a little of this video Labour produced just before the general election last year. It was criticised at the time for being OTT, for portraying the Tories as sinister creatures knocking on Britain’s doors to cut the NHS and take our tax credits away. Well, guess the hell what – the only bit we got wrong was not putting the Lib Dems in there too.

But for many people, the sound of a key in the door is much scarier than a knock. One domestic violence incident is reported to the police every minute – and Women’s Aid estimate that less than half of all incidents are reported to the police. Here are some of the scariest things I’ve read this Halloween (from the Women’s Aid website – trigger warning):

“It took me 6 weeks to report it to the police, I was trying to when the paramedics were there but he physically took the phone out of my hand and threatened me with ss, police, everything he could.”

“not one of them men did anything. they watched. my daughter is 2 and she saw the whole thing and yet they watched what he did to me…. and after they just got in there car and went about there business like it was a show! im not doing nothing.. telling nobody .. cos when i needed help… people watched!!”

“I guess the main thing is I just feel so scared all the time. I just want to be free of being so on edge, of scanning every street as I walk down it, of jumping when a car door opens or slams near me, of freezing when I think I see him. Of being afraid he’ll try and set fire to my home. Of jumping when someone walks past the kitchen window. Or just jumping when the wind blows my fringe across my face when I’m out.”

Not scary enough? OK, how about this. The coalition wants to change legal aid so that it will be available for fewer family cases. This means if you’re a victim of domestic violence and you want a divorce, or to take court action to protect your children, the government will not help you if you cannot afford to pay for it yourself.

The government insists that legal aid will be available for victims of domestic violence – as long as the victims can prove it. How can they prove it? Well, they can demonstrate that they’ve had their abuser convicted. Never mind that many victims of domestic violence are too scared to ever get that far. Evidence from a GP won’t count as proof. Evidence of 999 calls won’t count as proof. A housing association stating that your neighbours have complained as screaming won’t count as proof. Bruises won’t count. Broken fingers won’t count.

The coalition’s contempt for women defies all comprehension. They know they need our votes. They pay lip-service. They’ve changed the system of hereditary monarchy in our favour! We might be facing the biggest loss of income, they might not care about sending rapists to prison, they might be happy to leave us to die, but hey – one of us can become Queen!

This government is waging an undeclared war on women. Somebody needs to do something about it and as a Labour woman I would really, really like it if it was us. If that something starts with the women of the shadow cabinet having meetings on their own, I’m fine with it. Doing nothing would be the scariest thing of all.