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www.jewishnews.co.uk
Jewish News 8 July 2021
News / Domestic abuse / News briefs
Jewish wives stay longer in abusive relationships Jewish women stay in abusive relationships two years longer than the national average owing to a fear of “bringing shame” on their families, a charity has warned, as figures showed a 62 percent spike in calls to its domestic violence helpline during the pandemic, writes Adam Decker. Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) supported 465 Jewish women and girls through domestic abuse and sexual violence support services between April 2020 and March 2021, with the time spent directly supporting clients increasing by 37 percent. The charity said lockdown measures had been “used as an opportunity by perpetrators to abuse women”, with calls to its helpline rising to 285, an increase of 62 percent. Nationally, one in four women will be affected by domestic abuse, and there is no evidence to suggest the issue is more prevalent in Jewish communities. Research by JWA found Jewish women take two years longer to report domestic abuse – 11.5 years, compared to the national average JAN of 9.52020:Layout years. HALF PAGE ADVERT 1
London march to show solidarity in ending male violence against women
JWA chief executive Naomi Dickson, and a trustee of Women’s Aid said: “Women were telling us they were more likely to be experiencing physical abuse, there was more anxiety and they were very concerned about their children witnessing trauma. They just didn’t feel there was any escape.” Dickson said women worry about “bringing shame” on their families so it takes longer to Page reach1 out. “Some09/01/2020 16:04
times they’ll come to us and say, ‘My husband is well known in the [community]’, ‘he gives a lot of money to charity’ or ‘he got a community position, nobody’s going to believe me,’. There is a real concern of not being believed,” she said. JWA client services manager Karen Lewis said cultural expectations play a huge part in why women do not always reach out, with some clients in abusive
marriages for as long as 60 years. She said: “Irrespective of their level of observance, there is an expectation, culturally, of: you get married, you have children; that’s the perceived expectation in the community.” One woman said her husband used the pandemic to isolate her from friends and family. “Whenever my parents came for Friday night dinner, he was aggressive and made them feel uncomfortable so they stopped coming over. Then he made it difficult for me to visit them,” she explained. “During lockdown, he wasn’t working and when he felt low he put me down and made me feel bad about myself. I had to sleep on the children’s bedroom floor because I was terrified of his temper. The lack of school structure meant the children and I never got any respite from him.” She later called the police and he was removed from the house. • The JWA Domestic Abuse helpline can be contacted on 0808 801 0500 or visit www.jwa.org.uk Editorial comment, page 18
Rosh Pinah keeps its ‘good’ rating
Edgware primary Rosh Pinah has maintained its ‘good’ rating from Ofsted. The education inspectorate said it was a “happy, safe place for pupils to learn”, praising it for high standards of teaching and a “strong and vigilant culture of safeguarding” for students. The school of nearly 400 students was commended for having a “strong and committed group of staff” which “form a caring and cohesive team, with pupils’ best interests at heart”.
Hasmonean Primary announces new head Hasmonean Primary School has a new headteacher. Hayley Gross will take over the role in January, having been at the helm of Sacks Morasha Jewish Primary School since 2008. This comes after incumbent head Alan Shaw’s decision to retire from this summer, having joined in 2013. The position is being held by his deputy Daniel Hastwirth on an interim basis.
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