At Refuge, we know that change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes tireless campaigning, advocacy, and the strength of survivors’ voices to push for meaningful reforms. Over the years, legislation in the England and Wales has evolved to offer greater protection and rights to survivors of domestic abuse. But there is still work to do.
This Women’s History Month, we’ve created a timeline outlining how laws have changed over the years, as society’s understanding of domestic abuse has evolved.
Timeline
1853 – Act for the Better Prevention and Punishment of aggravated assaults upon women and children is passed. A man who beats his wife can be imprisoned for up to 6 months. 1
1861 – Offences Against the Person Act – Made common assault an offence it also made it an offence to inflict bodily injury on another with or without a weapon, attempting to choke an individual.2
1878 – Matrimonial Causes Act – Allows women survivors of violence in marriage to obtain separation orders.3
1882 – Married Women’s Property Act – Gives married women the right of absolute control over their own money and property.4
1928 – In Britain, all women over 21 are allowed to vote the same as men.1
1956 – rape legally defined for the first time.4
1970 – Equal Pay Act is passed in Britain.1
1970 – Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill Act passed, requiring local authorities to provide welfare services to disabled people.6
1971 – Refuge opens the world’s first safe house for women and children
1975 – The Sex Discrimination Act makes it illegal to discriminate against women in employment, education, and training, and gives women the right to maternity pay.1
1976 – The Race Relations Act was established by the UK Parliament, significantly extending rights established in the 1965 Act to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race.7
1985 – Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) becomes a criminal offence.8 It takes until 2019 for the first prosecution under the Act.9
1987 – First ever domestic abuse helpline established by Women’s Aid.10
1989 – ‘The Hidden Struggle’ report released – first research into black women and domestic abuse.11
1991 – Marital rape criminalised.12
1993 – Violence against women and girls recognised as human rights violation.13
1997 – Protection from Harassment Act.14
1997 – Occupation and non-molestation orders are introduced to exclude perpetrators from the home, and help prevent a perpetrator from using or threatening violence and harassment.15
2002 – Broken Rainbow sets up the first helpline specifically for LGBT+ survivors of domestic abuse.16 Today, it’s run by Galop.17
2003 – New FGM Act increased penalties, and explicitly covered UK nationals who took children abroad for FGM.18
2008 – ‘Making the Links: Disabled women and Domestic Violence’ is published by Women’s Aid. It is the first national report on the impact of domestic abuse on disabled women.19
2012 – Destitution Domestic Violence (DDV) Concession scheme introduced to help migrant survivors with No Recourse to Public Funds receive financial support so that they can leave their abusive partners.20 Under the scheme, victims who are in the UK on spousal visas and who have no money to support themselves can apply to claim benefits for up to three months while the authorities review their application to stay in the UK
2014 – Clare’s Law – gives anyone concerned about their partner’s behaviour the right to ask and the right to know about their partner’s criminal records.21
2015 – Serious Crime Act criminalises Coercive control.22
2021 – Domestic Abuse Act becomes law – legally defining what domestic abuse is, recognising children in their own right.23
Refuge Campaign Wins
Today, Refuge is the largest provider of specialist support for women and their children experiencing domestic abuse and gender-based violence in the UK. On any given day, we support thousands of survivors, and every two minutes someone looks to Refuge for help.
Alongside our feminist community, we campaign tirelessly to improve the lives of women and girls.
Our recent campaign wins include:
2021 – legal duty for refuges – we campaigned with sister organisations to make commissioning domestic abuse safe accommodation a legal duty, and secured millions more government funding for safe accommodation
2021 – 6 month time limit – together with the Centre For Women’s Justice, Women’s Aid Federation of England, and survivor Erica Osakwe, Refuge successfully campaigned for an extension to the time limit for reporting common assault.
2021 – The Naked Threat campaign – after significant campaigning alongside Love Island star Zara McDermott, and survivor Natasha Saunders, threats to share intimate images is now a criminal offence.
2023 – Unsocial Spaces campaign – working with sister organisations and academics we won significant changes to the Online Safety Act. When it was first published, the Online Safety Act had no reference to women and girls whatsoever. After our campaigning, tech companies have duties around coercive and controlling behaviour perpetrated on their platforms and Ofcom, the regulator, must produce VAWG guidance for the tech industry.
2023 – Our Remove the Rot campaign called for measures to end police-perpetrated abuse, which Labour have committed to in their manifesto.
What’s next?
We’ve come a long way since 1882 – but we’ve still got a long way to go.
Historically, laws haven’t supported all women equally. For example, early laws often only included married women, and the people they were designed to protect weren’t always included in the decision-making, such as with the 1970 Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill Act.
Even with current laws in place, we know that economic and social discrimination has a huge impact in accessing support. In particular, Black and minoritised women, migrant women, D/deaf and disabled women and members of the LGBTQI+ community continue to experience discrimination and additional barriers to accessing support.
The latest Domestic Abuse Commissioner Report24 confirms that all too often, survivors who choose to report their experiences are failed by the system supposed to protect them.
Furthermore, there is a lack of funding for support services. Services meant to support survivors are severely underfunded, and a lack of training and understanding among frontline responders means that abuse isn’t always recognised or handled appropriately.
80% of Refuge's services have experienced funding cuts since 2011
It's six times less likely for services run 'by and for' minoritised communities to receive statutory funding than generic domestic abuse organisations (25)
fewer than 20% of survivors are prepared to go to the police due to concerns they will not be taken seriously (26)
The legal system has evolved, but systemic issues remain. The first female police officer was appointed in 1915 with limited powers.27 It wasn’t until 1968 that Sislin Fay Allen became the UK’s first Black policewoman (ibid)– highlighting the long struggle for inclusion within the justice system.
Today, change is still needed. Only a few weeks ago Raneem’s Law was implemented in five police forces, placing trained domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms to ensure survivors’ calls for help are taken seriously.28
What’s next for Refuge?
The Government have made an ambitious commitment to halving Violence against women and girls over the next decade. The forthcoming VAWG strategy will be key to this, and we are working hard to ensure it delivers the change we need. The Crime and Policing Bill was published in February 202529, this provides an important opportunity to raise standards in policing and close loopholes in the law on image-based abuse and deep fakes.
Every milestone in domestic abuse legislation has been hard-won through advocacy, survivor voices, and public pressure from individuals like you.
That’s why it’s essential to continue pushing for change. By joining Refuge, you can be part of a movement that fights for the rights of women, ensures their safety, and works toward a future free from abuse.
Our feminist community is powered by volunteers, changemakers, fundraisers, survivors, women. Together, our voices are powerful.
Join us.
Our community is powerful and growing. Together we can build a world where domestic abuse is no longer tolerated. Sign up to receive email updates about our work and how you can support women and children through donating, fundraising, campaigning and volunteering. You can unsubscribe at any time.
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SOURCES
1 – A Timeline of Women’s Rights UK – Local Histories
2 – Relationships: Key dates – UK Parliament
3 – Custody rights and domestic violence – UK Parliament
5- 100 years of women in the Met Police – BBC Newsround
6 – Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
7 – An early history of British race relations legislation – House of Commons Library
8 – FGM Policy & Law – FGM Network
9 – Written questions and answers – Written questions, answers and statements – UK Parliament
10 – https://www.womensaid.org.uk/what-we-do/training/training-history/
12 – R v R [1991] 4 All ER 481 | Law Tutor
13 – Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women | OHCHR
14 – Protection from Harassment Act 1997
15 – Family Law Act 1996
16 – Broken Rainbow
17 – Galop Helpline
18 – Female genital mutilation: the facts (accessible version) – GOV.UK
19 – Making the Links: Disabled Women and Domestic Violence. / Hague, GM; Thiara, R; Magowan, P et al.
In: Safe: The Domestic Abuse Quarterly, Vol. Summer, 08.2008, p. 1 – 5.
20 – Apply for the migrant victims of domestic abuse concession – GOV.UK
21 – Clare’s Law
22- Serious Crime Act 2015 – GOV.UK
23 – Domestic Abuse Bill receives Royal Assent
24 – dac_cjs-report_main_FINAL-DIGITAL.pdf
25 – Domestic Abuse Commissioner (2022), ‘A Patchwork of Provision.’
26 – Shifting the Scales: Transforming the criminal justice response to domestic abuse