Women's Scholar Luncheon: "History and Advocacy for Survivors of Intimate Partner Abuse"
Margaret Drew, JD, presents "History and Advocacy for Survivors of Intimate Partner Abuse".
I have been practicing in the field of intimate partner abuse since 1981. We are in dark times now when it comes to women and in representing survivors of intimate partner abuse. I write this article for survivors, their lawyers and advocates and others who may be curious. I have many more career years behind me than ahead of me and I write in the hope that my narrative will be beneficial to those who carry on the advocacy for people who have experienced intimate partner abuse.
My reflections are those of a white, cisgender woman raised in the patriarchy at a time when social change for women was beginning to be whispered. I recount the personal and professional experiences that shaped me into an advocate for intimate partner violence survivors. The narrative provides a backdrop for the development and devolution of legal protection for survivors. My personal and professional experience may not be similar to other advocates, but the legal difficulties faced by survivors are common to most.
Drawing on my over four decades of practice, I suggest remedies for the current anti-survivor culture both in legal theory and advocacy. In this era of anti-victim culture, in many cases intimate partner abuse survivors, particularly those with minor children, experience treatment in the legal systems that can be described politely as faulty. When moving away from politeness, hearings involving abused women may best be described as decision-making that often disregards survivor needs. This is justice disguised. The pretext of a fair hearing that is dominated by bias against women and incorporates demeaning stereotypes, which the actors accept as routine, That is justice disguised in the cloak of fair hearings. Legal and policy reforms are long overdue.
I hope that you find my narrative helpful in understanding the non-linear development of the law of intimate partner abuse and consider my perspectives, including why legal reform for abused women is urgent and ready for the new generations of advocates.
Margaret Drew is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. Prof. Drew continues to practice through the school’s Human Rights at Home Clinic, which she founded. Prof. Drew graduated from Northeastern University School of Law, J.D., and from Boston University School of Law with an LL.M. in Taxation.
Center for Women, Gender & Sexuality (Campus Center, Suite 207)
cwgs@umassd.edu