Gender-based violence plays a huge role in filicide
The International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression acknowledges the pain of which children around the world suffer, may it be physical, mental or emotional abuse, especially those in war torn countries.
This day reminds society and the law of what it means to protect the rights of children as well as how vital it is to protect those rights.
Society takes this day to recognize those children who were victims of filicide, killed, maimed, abducted, experienced sexual violence or were denied humanitarian assistance they were in desperate need of.
Rebecca Jaremko-Bromwich highlighted that the 2019 Divorce Act presumes 50-50 shared parenting time post-divorce or separation may benefit the children. However, this clashes with the reality of gendered domestic violence in many homes
“A man who is an abuser is more likely to present well in a courtroom. He will be accustomed to being in a business type or professional setting. A woman who has been abused and outside of the public sphere will often present poorly,” Jaremko-Bromwich said.
“I think there’s some education that needs to be put forward about that in terms of credibility assessments and trauma informed understandings of when somebody presents a certain way, when they function a certain way, it’s consistent with living through trauma,” she said.
Additionally, a study in 2015 by the American Sociological Association reported that 69 per cent of all divorces are initiated by women.
“It’s almost like divorce is a luxury item that women who can afford very much want in some cases, not all cases, obviously there are happy marriages out there. But there are many times that women are economically and socially entrapped in situations that are harmful to them,” Jaremko-Bromwich said.
Research lawyer at Rise Women’s Legal Centre, Haley Hrymak, said that economic abuse is a tactic of coercive and controlling violence which is frequently missed in family courts.
“Oftentimes, abusers withhold child support payments, or pay late or inaccurate amounts as a tactic of abuse towards the other parent. So that means they can very well pay their support payments, but they intentionally don’t to cause harm to the other parent,” Hrymak said.
“It’s often an extension of other forms of violence that were within the relationship as well and it can have devastating impacts on the survivors and their children,” she said.
According to the West Coast Leaf, unpaid child support remains a huge gendered issue contributing to the feminization of poverty with women being more likely to experience poverty and financial instability. This impacts expenses for basic needs as well as possible child education expenses.
“We’re also big advocates that lawyers taking family law files must have education, on screening for family violence and working within the legal system to help keep clients safe,” Hrymak said.
“It [intimate partner violence (IPV)] also requires lawyers to have this same level of ongoing mandatory continuing education because understanding IPV is very complex. The tactics that perpetrators use are always evolving and that’s why we emphasize that education needs to be ongoing,” she said.
Keira’s Law was introduced in February 2020 after four-year-old Keira Kagan was found dead with her father at the bottom of a cliff outside in Toronto in 2020.
This law cannot bring Keira back but proposes amendments to the Judges Act for continuing education for judges on intimate partner violence (IPV) and coercive control as well as aims to reduce femicide and filicide rates.
Article Written By: Julia Vellucci
