Nicole Westmarland

Nicole Westmarland (born 1977) is a British academic and activist in the area of violence against women.

She is currently a professor at the University of Durham, where she researches rape, domestic violence and prostitution.

With Geetanjali Gangoli, she has edited two books: International Approaches to Rape, and International Approaches to Prostitution: Law and Policy in Europe and Asia.

Originally a taxi driver, Westmarland’s first publication focused upon security issues for female taxi drivers, following her finding that female drivers were significantly more likely to face sexual harassment from customers than their male counterparts.

Alongside her academic work, Westmarland is often in the news as a commentator on violence against women.

She has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and written articles for The Telegraph, The Guardian and the New Statesman.

Westmarland was born in 1977 in Darlington, County Durham, England.

She began her academic career at the University of Teesside, where she studied for a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Women's Studies.

She then went on to study at the University of York, where she completed an MA in Women's Studies and a PhD in Social Policy and Social Work.

Westmarland spent her early career working at the University of Bristol.

It was here she met Geetanjali Gangoli, with whom she co-edited International Approaches to Prostitution (2006), and later International Approaches to Rape (2011).

During her time in Bristol, Westmarland published a number of articles and official reports concerning violence against women, with a particular focus upon the issues of domestic violence and prostitution.

In addition to her academic work, Westmarland plays a significant role within grassroots feminist action and organisation, and it was through volunteering for feminist campaign "Truth about Rape" that she first became involved with Rape Crisis.

In 2006, Westmarland became chair of Rape Crisis England and Wales, a position which she held for five years.

Following her time in Bristol, Westmarland returned to the North East to take up a position as Lecturer in Criminology at Durham University.

In 2007 Westmarland organised the 1st North East Conference on Sexual Violence, which brought together professionals from across various statutory and charity organisations to share knowledge and develop best practice in responding to sexual violence.

The conference now runs annually in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Westmarland has sat on both governmental and non-governmental advisory panels, and chaired for five years.

In 2011, she was promoted to Senior Lecturer.

She continues to combine academic work with feminist activism, allowing her research to both inform and be informed by grassroots groups.

Her most recent work investigated women's views of the police's response to sexual violence, ahead of the forthcoming elections for the creation of Police and crime commissioners.

Though she is based within the UK, Westmarland has collaborated with academics from across the world.

In 2011, Westmarland and Geetanjali Gangoli published International Approaches to Rape, which combines contributions from international experts to produce a cohesive account of rape law and policy in 10 different countries.

International Approaches to Rape illustrates the ways in which countries' approaches to rape interact with women's experiences; and highlights the various interventions and support available within each country.

Westmarland chaired Rape Crisis England and Wales for five years.

Rape Crisis is a registered charity which supports victim-survivors of sexual assault and campaigns to raise awareness of sexual violence.

The organisation regularly features in Westmarland's work, with publications focusing upon assessment of the services provided by rape crisis centres, the Rape Crisis movement as a whole, and the lack of funding and concomitant closure of centres.

In 2012 Westmarland and her colleagues published an evaluation of rape crisis centres.

They found that women's health and well-being had improved following rape crisis counselling, with particularly positive results in certain areas.

For example, following counselling, twice as many women felt in control of their life.

The number of women who reported experiencing flashbacks about what happened to them was reduced from 84% to 57%, and the number of women who experienced panic attacks fell from 68% to 43%.

There were also reductions in other areas.

Following counselling, less than half of the women who had initially reported self-harm were still using this as a coping mechanism, whilst the percentage of women using alcohol to help them cope had reduced from 28% to 11%.

Though many women still felt depressed, the number reporting this issue had fallen from 72% to 56%.

Around two-fifths of those who had reported suicidal feelings at the initial assessment no longer had thoughts of ending their life.

When they first visited Rape Crisis, nearly half of the women (45%) felt too unwell to work or study.

Following counselling, this figure was reduced to 29% of women.

Overall the study found that the support provided by rape crisis centres was associated with a reduction on all measures of distress created by sexual assault.

Research carried out in 2012 by Westmarland and colleagues found that women do not think that the police take rape, domestic violence and stalking as seriously as they should.

The research, which surveyed 577 women across the North East and Cumbria, found that only half of women would report domestic violence (49%) or stalking (53%) if it happened to them.