Women's refuges told to help male domestic violence victims or lose their funding (UK)
Many charities have been told that they must extend their counselling and outreach services to men because of new equality laws which require local authorities to ensure that services do not discriminate on grounds of sex. Fiona Mactaggart, the former Home Office minister, said an “unintended consequence” of the law has meant some domestic violence services have lost grants or contracts for refusing to do so. When council contracts came up for tender, many branches are being told that they must provide services such as advice and counselling to men or lose their funding. The new Gender Equality Duty, created under The Equality Act 2006, requires that ’public bodies must promote and take action to bring about gender equality, which involves: looking at issues for men and women’.
