Students learn about ‘honour crimes’ from Roehampton Professor at Westminster

• Tuesday, March 7, 2017

On 6th March, to mark International Women’s Day, Criminology students learned about legal issues regarding violence against women from Roehampton’s Professor Aisha K Gill. 

Aisha K Gill, Professor of Criminology in the Department of Social Sciences has spent many years studying and campaigning for improved approaches to women. Invited to speak at the House of Lords, she also brought her third year Criminology students from the module Gender Violence and Human Rights.

At the event, Professor Gill spoke about violence and how it is a key factor in the production, maintenance and legitimisation of domination and subordination. She argued that this is especially true in relation to violence against women and girls. She explained that everyday forms of violence are observed in a variety of contexts but all have diverse methods, perpetrators and agendas. Women who experience such violence, particularly South Asian women, often live in communities where they are treated as repositories of community and family 'honour,' and subsequently their bodies and sexuality are the sites of vengeance and gendered violence.

She said “My research explores the interconnectedness of legal and policy responses domestic violence/sexual abuse, forced marriage and the murder of women perpetrated in the name of ‘honour’. The audience and students were very interested to hear about the work being done to raise awareness for these women and how this can be dealt with to improve their future.”

The event to mark International Women’s day was hosted by Lord Singh of Wimbledon in the House of Lords, Palace of Westminster on the 6th of March. Professor Gill has previously won an Economic and Social Research Council award paying tribute to her work on public policy.

The Criminology course offered by the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton is ranked best in London (Guardian University Guide 2017).