Sophie is the author of Breakfast at Bronzefield, a memoir about her time in prison. The book shines a light on discrimination against women in the Criminal Justice System. She has also written for a number of journals and other publications. Her writing challenges the stereotyping of criminalised women and shows how they are impacted by classism, sexism and racism. She makes a powerful case for treating women in prison as individuals and allowing them to speak for themselves.
Emily won a hard-fought battle to have the Crown Prosecution Service take seriously the abuse that she had been subjected to. In 2015 the CPS decided to take no further action in relation to an allegation of rape that Emily had brought to them. Eventually, they made her aware that the suspect in the case had taken a video clip of her naked and unconscious. The CPS said that there was nothing illegal in him filming her in this way and Emily was forced to bring a Judicial Review of their decision in order to have the law on voyeurism clarified. Although her campaigning has come at a personal cost it has not only clarified that this form of abuse is against the law, but stands as an example to the CPS that they cannot continue to dismiss women survivors unchallenged.
For years, Freya has used her own experiences to campaign on the issue of police failures to properly hold their own officers to account for domestic abuse. As well as raising awareness through social media, she has worked with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Centre for Women’s Justice to draw attention to how perpetrators of abuse are protected by police forces. The rise in the profile of this problem, and the soon-expected changes to police policy and procedure on this front are a testament to the impact of her work.
Based in Iraqi Kurdistan, Sofia is a group that works to raise awareness of violence against women and to increase literacy amongst women in their community. One of their major activities are women’s discussion groups which they hold in bookshops, meeting to discuss different philosophical and literary issues, with a focus on gender. In 2019 the group organised an international conference on domestic and sexual violence, which was the first of its kind in Kurdistan.
A special prize was awarded to Diana Russell, the feminist scholar and academic, who died this year at the age of 81. Diana devoted her life to the fight against male violence against women and was best known for her work on femicide.
Nominees
Ann Sinnott
Coleen Dion
Rosie Lewis
Zinthiya Ganespanchan
Action Breaks Silence
The Holly Project
H.O.P.E