The below excerpt is taken from the forthcoming Springer Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence, edited by Todd K. Shackelford.
Professor Marianne Hester
Professor Marianne Hester OBE FAcSS is Chair in Gender, Violence & International Policy at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. Professor Hester is a leading researcher of gender-based violence in the UK and internationally whose work is about tackling violence and abuse, including domestic and sexual violence
Professional Biography
Professor Marianne Hester OBE FAcSS (MA Oxon, PhD Leeds) is acknowledged as a leading researcher of Gender-Based violence in the UK and internationally. She was Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sunderland and appointed to the Chair in Gender, Violence & International Policy at the University of Bristol in 2003, and headed the Centre for Gender and Violence since its inception in 2009. Hester has received substantial external recognition of her work and its impact. She was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2012 for services to research and to the community in tackling domestic abuse, elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2016 and as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) in 2017. She has been visiting Professor at a number of prestigious universities including the Universities of Uppsala, Sweden, the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, and the Nordic Institute of East Asian Studies, Copenhagen, and is currently Affiliated Professor at the University of Gothenburg.
Hester’s doctoral work was published as a monograph, entitled, ‘Lewd Women and Wicked Witches: A Study of the Dynamics of Male Domination’ (1992). In this she used a feminist analysis to explore the ways in which the accusation of witchcraft against women during 16 and 17th century England was a form of violence against women and as the oppression and victimisation of women within the context a male dominated society. Concentrating on English source material, she shows how witch-hunts may be seen as an historically specific example of male dominance. Relying on an eroticised construct of women’s inferiority, they were part of the ongoing attempt by men to maintain their power over women. This feminist analysis led the groundwork for Hester’s further work on gendered-inequality, expressed through violence against women. In 1996 she collaborated with Liz Kelly and Jill Radford to publish a book entitled, ‘Women, Violence and Male Power: Feminist Activism, Research and Practice’ which furthered this exploration into the connections between patriarchy and violence.
Hester’s work on the plight of children who have experienced domestic violence and abuse has had a significant impact in the field. In 2006 she co-authored a book with Lorraine Radford entitled, ‘Mothering Through Domestic Violence’ which is a foundational text in our understanding of the impact of DVA on children. Her theory of the ‘three planets’ (2011) which looks at the ways in which practices regarding child contact, safeguarding with regard to DVA, and child protection operate in relation to each other, shone a light on the contradictions in safeguarding policy in the context of the family court. She has also written about safe contact between children and perpetrators (2015), as well as the role of mediation during separation (1997).
One of her most important works has been development of our understanding of ‘Who does what to whom’ 2013, where she explored gendered trends in English policing records. This deepened understandings of the gendered nature of DVA. She has also written about the portrayal of female DVA perpetrators (2012). In 2015 Hester collaborated on a book with Catherine Donovan which focused on experiences of DVA within LGBT communities, entitled, ‘Domestic Violence and Sexuality: What’s Love Got to Do with It?’. This book is one of the first that has focused on the similarities and differences in dynamics between heterosexual and homosexual relationships.
Hester was involved in the development of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In 2014 Hester wrote the guidance for both Articles 12 and Article 16 of the Istanbul Convention for the Council of Europe, which focus on frameworks for prevention and provision of domestic and sexual violence perpetrator programmes respectively. This also reflects her expertise in perpetrator work, which has created baseline data around effectiveness of intervention with perpetrators and their help-seeking. Her research in this area has also advanced through close involvement with the development of the DRIVE project in the UK, which is a model that focuses on high-risk, high-harm perpetrators. Hester led the initial evaluation on this work in 2019, which led to roll-out of the approach across England and Wales. Hester was a founder member and on the board of ‘Working with Perpetrators European Network’ from 2014 to 2021 and still continues involvement in collaborative projects with the organisation.
Hester’s work has initiated legislative change in the UK. The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme gives people the right to find out about an individual’s prior domestic violence offences. This ‘Clare’s law’ was a direct result of work done by Professor Marianne Hester who led the team compiling key evidence for the ACPO review, and resulted in the recommendation for new legislation. Among ten recommendations from the review was the “right to know” for people at risk of a violent attack, and a proposed change to the law allowing serial perpetrators of violence against women and girls to be tracked by multiple agencies. This followed several earlier studies by Hester and her colleagues, including the finding that informing female prostitutes about potentially dangerous clients had led to more prosecutions of serial domestic violence offenders.
In 2017 Hester oversaw the launch of the international Journal of Gender-Based Violence and became the first Editor-in-Chief. The journal is the first international journal based in Europe to showcase the work of scholars across disciplinary and topic boundaries, and from a range of methodologies. The diversity of the journal reflects Hester’s far-reaching focus on all different aspects of violence and abuse in her work. Hester has collaborated with colleagues to write about a wide range of issues including prostitution and sex work (2021), female genital mutilation (2018), male victims (2017), honour-based violence (2015) as well as domestic and sexual violence. She has also worked for many years to develop and improve the health responses to domestic abuse in primary practice (2004-2016), and in policing (2006-2013). Hester has a specialism in focusing on the dynamics of coercive control in diverse contexts, such as among Black and minoritised GBV survivor communities (2020), coercive control in the contexts of faith (2022). She works closely with NGOs tackling Gender-Based violence, frequently acting as advisor to government departments. She was Patron of Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services since its revival in 2012 and is currently a Trustee. Her work has developed in close alliance with the Women’s Aid Federation of England and Welsh Women’s Aid. Hester led teams working with English and Welsh Women’s Aids on projects related to wider notions of justice for victim-survivors of Gender-Based violence (2015-2018), and on measuring coercive control. Currently Hester is working with the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics to develop a new set of questions and approach to measuring domestic violence and abuse, with a focus on coercive control. This will likely have a significant impact on data collection and understanding of the issues in the future.
Professor Marianne Hester’s work has had a far-reaching impact on the development of feminist theory and policy around Gender-Based violence and continues to shape the field.
References
Donovan, C., & Hester, M. (2015). Domestic Violence and Sexuality What’s Love Got to Do with It? Policy Press.
Gangoli, G ., Gill, A., Mulvihill, N., & Hester, M. (2018). Perception and barriers : reporting female genital mutilation. Journal of Aggression , Conflict and Peace Research.
Gangoli, Geetanjali, Bates, L., & Hester, M. (2020). What does justice mean to black and minority ethnic ( BME ) victims / survivors of gender-based violence ? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(15), 3119–3135. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1650010
Hester, M., & Pearson, C. (1997). Domestic violence and mediation practices: a summary of recent research findings. Family Mediation, 7(1), 10–11.
Hester, Marianne. (1992). Lewd Women and Wicked Witches: A Study of the Dynamics of Male Domination. Routledge.
Hester, Marianne. (2011). The Three Planet Model: Towards an Understanding of Contradictions in Approaches to Women and Children’s Safety in Contexts of Domestic Violence. British Journal of Social Work, 41, 837–853. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr095
Hester, Marianne. (2012). Portrayal of Women as Intimate Partner Domestic Violence Perpetrators. Violence Against Women, 18(9), 1067–1082. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801212461428
Hester, Marianne. (2013). Who does what to whom? Gender and domestic violence perpetrators in English police records. European Journal of Criminology, 10(5), 623–637. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370813479078
Radford, Lorraine & Hester, Marianne. (2015). More than a mirage? Safe contact for children and young people who have been exposed to domestic violence. In & C. H. N. Stanley (Ed.), Domestic Violence and Protecting Children: New Thinking and Approaches. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Hester, Marianne, Eisenstadt, N., Jones, C., Magnus, L., Morgan, K., & Bates, L. (2019). Evaluation of Year 2 of the Drive Project – A Pilot to Address High Risk Perpetrators of Domestic (Issue January).
Hester, Marianne, Gangoli, G., Gill, A. K., Mulvihill, N., Bates, L., Matolcsi, A., Walker, S.-J., & Yar, K. (2015). Victim/survivor voices – a participatory research project. August, 39. https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/wp-content/uploads/university-of-bristol-hbv-study.pdf
Hester, Marianne, Kelly, L., & Radford, J. (1996). Women, Violence and Male Power: Feminist Research, Activism and Practice. Open University Press.
Matolcsi, A., Mulvihill, N., Lilley-Walker, S. J., Lanau, A., & Hester, M. (2021). The Current Landscape of Prostitution and Sex Work in England and Wales. Sexuality and Culture, 25(1), 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09756-y
Mulvihill, N., Aghtaie, N., Matolcsi, A., & Hester, M. (2022). Faith and Coercive Control: A briefing for faith communities and for practitioners working with victim-survivors of coercive control.
Radford, L., & Hester, M. (2006). Mothering Through Domestic Violence. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Williamson, E., Morgan, K., & Hester, M. (2017). Male victims: control, coercion, and fear? In N. Lombard (Ed.), he Routledge Handbook of Gender and Violence. Routledge.