The need for an improved definition of violence against women and girls : Written response to the Public Accounts Committee on Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG)

Francis, Brian (2025) The need for an improved definition of violence against women and girls : Written response to the Public Accounts Committee on Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG). UK Parliament, London.

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Abstract

The recently released National Audit Office (NAO, 2025) report highlighted the definitionof violence against women and girls used by the Home Office. There are issueswith this definition as it fails to include the most prevalent forms of violence against women, is incompatible with the United Nations definition of violence against women, has no strategy on which data sources will be used in measuring reduction, and has little relationship to a lay person’s understanding of violence against women and girls. Improvements in the definition are needed which will include additional forms of violence and allow better measurement to assess the policy objective of halving such violence in ten years.