Background
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2 to 3 women lives are taken away every week in the UK due to violence.
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99% of reported rapes go without conviction.
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1 in 5 police officers are in the misconduct system, less than 1% are dismissed.
We are abused and then left unprotected.
My Mission
My mission is to bring these stories to light and show how insidious misogyny in the police force is and the severe impact it's having on the quality of life for thousands of victims in the UK.
I want victims of police misogyny and abuse to know they're not alone. I want to empower their voice and validate their experiences.
I know too well the fear and pain each one of them goes through.
My Story
My name is Dania Al-Obeid. You may know me for being arrested, and consequently convicted by the MET police for attending a vigil of a young woman's life, a vigil that they unlawfully banned. Her life was taken away by one of their members.
I've since received dozens of stories from women who have been mis-treated by the police. It's starting to sound like there's too many 'one bad apples'.
I understand these stories because I've had a similar experience. In 2015, I almost lost my life to physical abuse and was blamed for 'provoking him'. I was told that I should 'know what he's like' and should've stayed away - even though I tried my best. I was blamed for his actions and left unprotected by the police.
The consequences of being abused, minimised and unprotected had severe effects on my mental health, more than I could cope with.
I became a shell of myself, navigating life with hyper-vigilance, nightmares and flashbacks. I didn't know how to function day-to-day.
After managing to escape and build financial stability, I slowly built a safe space to reclaim my voice.
It's taken blood, sweat and tears to be in a place where I feel strong in my voice and I almost didn't make it. It shouldn't and doesn't have to be this hard to reclaim our voices.
My voice is the exact reason why I can stand up for myself and others. Reclaiming our voice is life-saving.