Getting back to normal? chance to develop new approach to male violence could be lost | |
Quote: Getting back to normal?
Demoralised by the bureaucratic approach to the county’s child abuse controversy, many people in Cleveland are yearning to ‘get back to normal’. But the chance to develop a new approach to male violence could be lost, says Janis Bright
People in Cleveland sigh pointedly when you mention the long-running drama over their council and hospitalÂ’s handling of child sexual abuse reports in the summer of 1987.
ItÂ’s not that they no longer care: rather, the latest episodes of the story have come to seem mere bureaucracy instead of reaching for a new initiative.
As soon as Cleveland county council had finally made it decision in October to take no action against two senior social services employees criticised in the Butler-Sloss report, the government announced a new investigation of how the department is running.
The investigation completed, social services was found still to lack direction and needed improved procedures. Head of department Mike Bishop got a new job on the other side of the country. But paediatrician Marietta Higgs found herself in a High Court legal battle over Northern regional health authorityÂ’s attempts to discipline her.
Each time there is something new to report, up pops local MP (Member of Parliament) Stuart Bell on television to denounce the authorities. The show goes on and on.
But according to local NALGO (National Association of Local Government Offices, now Unison) organiser Julia Rostron, Health Minister David Mellor’s announcement of an investigation was little more than a red herring. It was carried out by the Social Services Inspectorate — something it does anyway at regular intervals.
Though it was able to, and did, make criticisms, these were confined to procedure rather than commenting on individuals as hinted in advance by the government.
Understandably, many people are fed up with the ‘Cleveland crisis’. Some want things to get back to ‘normal’ — but women in particular feel disillusioned that after all the fuss is still little sign of a drive to tackle more fundamental problems.
“Women who believe their children have been sexually abused are still coming forward … but the conflict remains between the need to help the mothers and to protect the children”
The concentration on how professionals handled the situation they found themselves in does nothing for the Rape Crisis movement or for Women’s Aid groups which are still getting on with the business of dealing with the same problems as ever — problems rooted in male attitudes to women.
That’s a view shared by the professionals themselves. As Ms Rostron says: A lot of children were sexually abused — you can’t get away from that. Some people seem to think if you sack a few people, the abuse will end. It won’t.
The new procedures that have been instituted do have their limits, however. They can do no more than allow workers to react to an existing situation.
Social services say women who believe their children have been sexually abused are still coming forward to say so, and they are confident that the accusations of mismanagement have not made people too afraid to seek help. But as elsewhere, a central conflict remains between the need to help mothers and statutorily to protect children.
Among women not personally involved, there has been a distinct cooling in their support for the social servicesÂ’ actions during the summer of 1987. The same goes for Marietta Higgs: while many women were sympathetic to her and felt that she had been hounded for being a woman, the tone is now less protective.
For Ros Smith, a teacher, it is a question of responsibility. ‘Managers get paid considerably more than ordinary workers precisely because they are expected to take on extra responsibility’, she says. ‘Now it appears that they can have their status without accepting the responsibilities that go with it.’
Dr HiggsÂ’ stance of putting her work before any role as a woman has distanced her from potential allies among women with no official status.
Similar doubts are beginning to surface about the approach and attitude of social workers in dealing with mothers.
Ms Rostron says this kind of reaction has been found elsewhere when someone had tried to take positive steps to tackle abuse. ‘People starting attacking individuals to try to deflect attention from the real problems,’ she says.
“The most suprising thing about talking to men and women in Cleveland is that without exception they will say, “I don’t really understand what’s going on””
But most of all, there is an air of isolation among Cleveland women. It is an area where men rule the roost, where all attempts by women to take initiatives on their own behalf are a grinding process of two steps forward and a big one back.
For all his outrageous behaviour, MP Stuart Bell still command massive support in his Middlesborough constituency.
The Labour Party there is a traditional menÂ’s stamping ground with a suitably powerless womenÂ’s section tacked on.
The party decided not to oppose the anti-gay section 28 and to allow Bell to vote with David Alton MP to reduce the abortion time-limit. The womenÂ’s council is mostly left to its own devices, confident in the knowledge that power lies elsewhere.
That will not stop Labour women, and others active in the community, continuing to discuss sexual abuse, male violence and Cleveland’s sudden notoriety. ‘At first, views were very polarised because of Bell,’ said women’s council member Moira O’Connor. ‘Combating him and his supporters became the major item, but now we are trying to develop our thoughts in a context of our own making.’
The most surprising thing about talking to men and women in Cleveland, however, is that without exception they will say. ‘I don’t really understand what’s going on.’ Even with all the publicity , and many have read the Butler-Sloss report or a summary of it, there is a feeling that whatever action officials are taking it is out of ordinary people’s control. The belief that a small incident can escalate to a point where a mother could suddenly lose her children is still prevalent.
Some of that may well be due to sensational reporting. But also, undeniably, there is a gulf between local people and their own council, health authority and — most of all — police force. Even elected councillors are seen as distant and part of authority.
Such an atmosphere does not invite the kind of new initiatives so greatly needed: those women and men working for change could be forgiven for feeling demoralised at the lack of progress so far.
Cleveland will not easily lose its association with the ‘unmentionable’ crime. But the chance to become known for bringing a new approach to male violence seems increasingly remote.
Janis Bright | Link to the article.
~ A man needs a woman like a lion needs a stove. ~
~ Women deserve only equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. ~
~ Men are not collectively "guilty" of anything. ~
~ Never needing to be pregnant is a blessing. ~
~ Feminist ideology “men have to respect women, but women have no reason to respect men” ~
~ Everybody makes choices, and nobody should be entitled to special treatment because of those choices.
Equal results based on unequal treatment amounts to no kind of equality at all. ~
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25th-February-2007
