The study published today (2/10/24) in the open-access journal PLOS ONE was led by researchers from Swagֱ�� and University  Alberta, in collaboration with colleagues world-wide.

The study also looked at women’s quality of life in different age groups and found:

• Younger women under 45, reported the poorest health-related quality of life of any age group, and on every domain, although their quality of life was adequate.
• Women over 45, reported that  quality of life in every domain except physical, had improved and was reported as good or very good.
• By 60, older women generally had the best quality of life level in their life. These high levels were sustained up to 75 years of age and beyond, peaking for environmental quality of life. 

Commonly cited measures of quality of life for use in health (such as EQ-5D) have often focussed their assessments on the physical and psychological dimensions.

But that means the environmental, social, and spiritual dimensions of quality of life, internationally agreed to be important, are overlooked, with consequences for how we understand women’s health and wellbeing.

Data from four World Health Organisation (WHO) surveys was collected in 43 countries world-wide and included responses from 17,608 adults, aged15 to 101 years.

A cross-culturally developed measure known as the WHOQOL-100 assessed respondents’ quality of life and health on six key dimensions: physical, psychological, independence, social, environmental, and spiritual.

The researchers found that environmental quality of life explained a substantial 46% of women’s overall quality of life and health, and home environment  was the biggest contributor.

Other important factors included having enough financial resources to meet their needs, perceptions of opportunities for recreation and leisure, access to health and social care, and their physical environment.

Evidence of better spiritual quality of life in some women was derived from spiritual connections and faith. Studies of gender inequalities have tended to report that physical and psychological quality of life is better for men, which the study confirmed.

Co-author Professor Suzanne Skevington from The University Swagֱ�� said: “From our study it is possible to speculate about the  environmental actions by younger women around the issue of climate change and its effects on the environment.

“We speculate these actions may be initiated by their self-awareness that their environmental quality of life is only acceptable rather than good, during the early adult years; hence a desire to improve it.

“Very good environmental quality of life in older women could provide sufficient reason for them to work towards retaining this nourishing feature of their life for their family, and future generations”.

The study data was collected before it was widely appreciated that reducing climate change and biodiversity loss would depend upon changing human behaviour, which, say the authors, could be the topic of future research.

She added: “ These findings underscore the importance of choosing a quality of life measure  in healthcare clinical or research that includes assessments of environmental, social, and spiritual quality of life

“That, will more fully capture knowledge about women’s quality of life and health.

“Many existing surveys have ignored factors more relevant to women, which has meant that our understanding of quality of life has been skewed toward the experiences of men and not women.

“This profile of information could be useful in enhancing the quality of life of women from all age groups.”

DOI of the study is: 

Nine fathers were given legal access by private family court law proceedings (PLP) to the children they were accused of sexually abusing, according to a qualitative study.

The groundbreaking UKRI funded , published  in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, was carried out by University of Swagֱ�� researchers in partnership with members of and The Survivor Family Network.

It is based on the experience of 45 women from across England in PLP who along with some of their children accused the men of abuse, including child sexual abuse (CSA) in nine cases.

A tenth father, a convicted paedophile, had groomed the mother as a child and been convicted of child sex offences but hadn’t yet harmed the child sexually. Other fathers convicted of child sex offences were also given direct access to their children.

Of the 45 studied, fathers were given access in 43 cases.

PLP cases occur when two or more private individuals try to resolve a dispute, usually around child arrangements or financial disputes.

All ten cases involving CSA resulted in some form of direct child contact with the alleged perpetrator father, sometimes giving unsupervised overnight stays or 50% shared residency.

Some of the 10 fathers were either convicted child sex offenders or had admitted to CSA. In some of the cases digital evidence was submitted to the court.

Only fathers who had criminal convictions for CSA were considered to meet the threshold for concern for risk or harm, though they were still given overnight contact with the children, supervised by paternal family members.

Four of the mothers, accused of coaching their child to falsify abuse claims – so called parental alienation - lost residency of their children to the alleged perpetrator father.

The researchers applied a feminist-informed framework to understand the experience of 10 women  from within the larger sample of 45, who were also interviewed.

The analysis identified 5 themes:

• Minimisation by the courts of the harm to the child and mother from CSA by the father, overemphasising the rights of fathers.
• The courts rely on whether a father was ‘gratified’ by the abuse to determine whether harm has occurred and a ‘sorry’ from the father was enough to reassure the court that their children will now be safe from future harm.
• The family courts at times intervened to close down active CSA criminal investigations into the fathers.
• Mothers who persisted in their attempts to resist the court and advocate for their children were those who lost their children.
• The court actors were frequently reported as bound by a pro-father narrative in their regard to each other.

Lead author Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno said: “We found disturbing evidence that private family courts are letting down some mothers and their children who accuse the fathers of child sex abuse and or rape.

“Many of the fathers had a history of abusing others. All had allegedly abused the mothers and children, yet this was deemed ‘alienation’, ‘historic’ or ‘irrelevant’ by the court, with one child repeatedly raped for several years after her mother was erroneously dubbed an ‘alienator’.

“Fathers’ actions and behaviours were repeatedly minimised and made invisible if harmful. For mothers, there was no such grace shown in the court, who sometimes had their children removed.”

The researchers argue CSA findings should not be determined within existing PLP, where prevailing bias against mothers and children leaves room for abuse to continue.

Use of ‘parental alienation’ or ‘alienating behaviours’ as a defence, they say, should be prohibited and that the Sexual Offences Act 2003 must re-consider the notion of perpetrator gratification to define harm and also review the use of a child’s personal and private space in defining criminality.

She added: “False allegations of CSA are extremely rare at around 0.01%- 2% and there is little evidence that children can be coerced into making false CSA claims.

“So we contend that this treatment of vulnerable women and their children is effectively an act of state sanctioned abuse, and state gaslighting.”

Support resources available:

The paper has been double blind peer reviewed and has been  published in the journal of social welfare and family law.  

The DOI of the paper, called ‘Let’s excuse abusive men from abusing and enable sexual abuse’: Child Sexual Abuse Investigations in England’s Private Family Courts’   is: 10.1080/09649069.2024.2382501. and it  is published in the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

Anonymous quotes from some of the mothers:

“‘…there’d been sexual videos made of my son. My son had come home with bruises. My son had specifically said he didn't want to go to his dad's. [son] disclosed a lot of things… but because [father] said, “I'm sorry…we were only messing around and there wasn't actually any penetration”, he got away with it… And I've got to live with those videos in my head and they even upset the police officers… There was no empathy [from the family court]. There was nothing… Just “fathers have rights”, very, very, pro, pro, pro father’”

‘[police] didn't really do anything, they kind of left it up to social care…the social worker came and said, “we'll come and make sure you've got food in the fridge and a roof over your head”, saw [son]…then they went and saw him…with his father and wrote a report and said there was nothing wrong… she completely and utterly blamed me, said I “was emotionally abusing [son]”…by this time, we'd had one [family] court case [with] a district judge [who] said “social care couldn't find any issues”, and awarded my ex overnight contact every other weekend and holidays’

‘But this same social worker went out again, and again, and just had a word, all the time, while pushing it as parental alienation.  Because I was “making [child] over-anxious”.  And because [father] said “it was accidental”, and social services actually said that “they would not consider it as sexual abuse because they didn’t believe it was sexually gratifying for him’

‘So, my ex-husband had the biggest collection of pornography that I had ever seen, and a lot of the titles were ‘Teen’, and he had used sex as a controlling mechanism within the relationship… This was mentioned…in court, and it was as if I was just being vindictive and trying to find something else wrong with him, to pin something else on him [and] there clearly “wasn’t a problem”’.

My children had accused their father of sexual abuse and he came back with parental alienation after a number of years of not mentioning it…they're not allowed to use any form of disclosing tool or not allowed to buy them any diaries…I’ve been told if I report further allegations then basically my ex has got a fast-track back to court for immediate change of residence…so they threatened me and gagged the girls effectively.’

‘Even the psychologist said, “there is no parental alienation”. He wrote it specifically and he contradicted Cafcass, he overruled Cafcass, and guess who the judge went with? Cafcass’

Candice Purwin, the illustrator, animator and graphic novelist behind the Teenage Kicks exhibition, said: “Illustrating Teenage Kicks gave me a rare and unique opportunity to bring to life a deeply transformative period of British history for women and girls. The stories these eight women shared with us are rich in detail and experiences that deconstruct the teenage girl stereotype we are usually shown.  I’m excited for the exhibition to bring this history to a wider audience and that we get to share the work in such an iconic space.”

Caroline Gausden, Development worker for Curating and Engagement at Glasgow Women’s Library, added: “Our mission at Glasgow Women’s Library is to celebrate the lives and achievements of women and champion their contribution to society, so Teenage Kicks is a great addition to our busy programme. This generation of women, has played – and is playing - a huge part in how Britain has changed since the Second World War. We hope that visitors of all ages enjoy the exhibition, whether or not they remember the sixties themselves!”

There will be a linked to the exhibition at Glasgow Women’s Library on 18 April 2024.

Teenage Kicks is part of Swagֱ��’s , and has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

“We are planning a further project incorporating a public health perspective, and as part of this, we would like to feed into work with boys and men to challenge the attitudes and norms that underpin this form of gender-based abuse.”

Around 138 million women are affected by a distressing but treatable fungal infection world-wide, according to a research review by University of Swagֱ�� scientists.

And the incidence of recurrent thrush, warns lead researcher , is set to rise to an estimated 158 million people by 2030.

The team from Swagֱ�� - one of the leading centres in the world for fungal infection research - are publishing their findings in The Lancet Infectious Diseases today

Vulvovaginal candidiasis infection - caused by the overgrowth of the fungus Candida - causes itching, irritation, discharge, soreness and damage to the skin. For many women it is a taboo subject.

Previous research has shown that 75% of women develop thrush at least once in their lifetime and over 6% of women suffer from recurrent episodes.

Also from studies reviewed by the research team, thrush is a risk associated with menopausal women aged 55 and over, and women taking hormone replacement therapy and antibiotics.

Chinese, Indian and American women are the world’s most numerous sufferers of thrush at 29.1 million and 23.6 million and 9 million respectively, they find.

Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, are the countries where the condition is the least prevalent from the data they harvested.

And a significant 1.2 million women in the UK suffer from the condition.

Dr Rautemaa-Richardson said: “Recurrent vulvovaginal thrush is common, debilitating and complex.

“Myths, unnecessary worry and stigma are associated with it as medical professionals struggle to understand it.

“Though Thrush is treatable, it often reoccurs and there are often additional causes for the symptoms which all need to be addressed. Antifungal treatment is often only part of the solution.

“Thrush is often thought of as an embarrassing problem woman should accept, rather than a medical problem which needs to be dealt with.

“But for millions of women, it can have a massive impact on quality of life.”

She added: “For many, thrush is treatable, and patients are able to regain their quality of life. But much work needs to be done to educate both healthcare professionals and patients about the best way to do that.

“We hope this research will give more women the confidence talk more openly about a problem which is distressing and painful.”

The paper a systematic review is published in Lancet Infectious Diseases