Page 7 - BPWUK - E-news - Edition 106 - October 2022

These are indeed troubling numbers, but what should we do?
This week many of us will have seen the very brave young lady who has stood up to
the Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) when she was raped whilst sleeping over at a
friend’s house after a party. One could say that not walking home late at night and
sleeping over would be the safest thing to do, but not for Jade McCrossen-
Nethercott. (WWW.BBC.COM/NEWS ) . When she woke up the next day, she felt
that she had been assaulted, indeed that she had been raped in her sleep. A friend
helped her through the reporting of this crime to the police, and the gruelling pro-
cess began. Jade bravely spoke to BBC Women’s hour on 21.9.22 and the podcast
of this is available on the Women’s Hour website, accessible via www.bbc.co.uk.
Her bravery has meant that she has received an apology from the CPS (Crown Pros-
ecution Service) after they decided to drop the case, as she could have been suffer-
ing from SEXSOMNIA. Now, I had to look up this word as I had never come across
it before, it almost sounded made up to me. Using GOOGLE, it tells me:
Sexsomnia, also known as sleep sex, is a type of sleep disorder known as a
parasomnia. Parasomnias refer to unusual sensations and behaviors, such
as sleepwalking, that people may experience or exhibit while asleep, falling asleep,
or waking up.18 Apr 2022

Or my laptop tries to alter the word to SAXON, as it does not recognise it…. well, I
am sure many of us felt that when seeing the article in the news. This troubling case
follows the fall in rape convictions, with the figures below from the ONS

Of all sexual offences recorded by the police in the year ending March 2022, 36%
(70,330) were rape offences. This was a 26% increase from 55,678 in the year
ending March 2021. Other sexual offences increased by 35% to 124,353 compared
with 92,212 the previous year.21 Jul 2022.



Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2022

https://www.ons.gov.uk › crimeandjustice › bulletins › ye...

So, what are we doing at BPW UK…… we have the VAWG interest group led by Vice
President for Membership Ann Wiseall. Why not join it to expand what we can do.

I have registered for the HM Government campaign on this issue, and I have writ-
ten to our new Prime Minister the Hon Liz Truss MP to ask why in the appointments
made on 6 September 2022 the Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP was appointed as Chan-
cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, and Min-
ister for Equalities - Equalities being the least important element of the title and
does not include “women”
Katherine Fletcher was appointed Minister for Women later in September. Her title
is - a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport and a
Parliamentary Secretary (Minister for Women) in the Cabinet Office…. This is a rele-
gation of the seniority of the Minister for Women.

The diminution of the role of Minister for Women and the lack of the mention of
women under equalities is concerning to many who are continuing to work towards
the day when true parity with men and women is achieved.
So, what will you do? I always want to hear from my fellow members, you can e-
mail me on president@bpwuk.org.uk