Welsh Women’s Aid: A Day in the Life
Policy Officer
Becky Jones
As Policy Officer for Welsh Women’s Aid, my role is wide-ranging and involves responding to government or public consultations that will have an effect on women and children experiencing domestic abuse and the specialist services that support survivors. I work with our member organisations to gather information and research subjects in order to provide evidence-based responses and briefings. These help inform government policy-making, and are used by local services, and organisations such as the Police, Health Services and Housing Services. Essentially, it is my job to help ensure Welsh Women’s Aid continues to be the lead organisation in Wales in terms of robust knowledge and information and ensure domestic abuse and its effects, continue to be high on the political agenda.
Something that I am currently working on is to ensure that front-line services inform the development of the Welsh Government’s ‘Gender-based Violence, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Bill’ and making sure a gendered approach is recognised in the Bill, which is vital to ending violence and abuse.
I am also gathering information on the impact of the Spare Room Subsidy (aka Bedroom Tax) on single women in multiple bedroom properties. It is not an option for refuges to turn women away if the room is too big, because this is emergency accommodation, and to force a woman to remain in the home could have potentially fatal consequences.
The 16 Days of Action campaign is very important to me as it gives us the opportunity to highlight the work that we and our members do, what services are out there and highlight how everyone can get involved and learn about the part they can play in ending violence against women and girls.