Attorney: Society Views Violence as Women’s Burden, Helping to “Fix Men.”

Also appearing on Open Your Eyes this morning was attorney Diane Shaw. She spoke about the need to break away from cultural norms which often dictate that women should suffer abuse because they are the ones somehow responsible for correcting men’s behaviour. She also corrected the misconception that if someone drops the charges for one incident, they cannot make future reports to police or be taken seriously by the courts.

Diane Shaw

Diane Shaw, Attorney/ Executive Director, Child Development Foundation

“There is a burden that society places on women to accept violence as part of their responsibility to fix men. This is something that we need to break from because it has created a lot of issues in gender-based violence, and women not coming to speak out until they are severely harmed. I want also to remind the public that even if somebody goes to make a report under the Domestic Violence Act and then decides to take back that report, it does not prevent them from making a second report when another incident arises. And it does not prevent them from taking action under the criminal proceedings in relation to criminal acts that may have arisen. Because I have seen some error, statements being made with that […] creates a fresh cause of action. You do not lose your ground, for seeking your rights; you don’t lose standing before the court because you decide you won’t proceed in this particular instance, with this report. Every incident of domestic violence is a fresh offense, and creates a fresh cause of action.”