He Said, She Said
Event details
If you and your family needed help, could you trust the law to be on your side?
Award-winning barrister Charlotte Proudman has dedicated her working life to representing women who find themselves in need of help from the family law courts. Time and again, she has watched as these women - many of whom have experienced the very worst traumas imaginable - are let down by the system that is supposed to protect them. Seeking only justice and safety, they have instead been met with cruelty and disdain, deemed unreliable witnesses compared to the men who abused them.
From family courts failing to protect victims from abusers to the misogynistic bullying Charlotte herself receives from senior members of her profession, the problem is clear: no matter their circumstances, women across the country are suffering at the hands of a legal system built by men.
But change is on the horizon. Join Charlotte, author of He Said, She Said, as she gives voice to the women whose stories are all too often brushed aside in the name of giving abusers 'the benefit of the doubt'. Through real-life cases spanning forced marriage, domestic abuse, child abduction and female genital mutilation, she will highlight the troubling biases and shocking prejudice that underlie our legal system, putting forward her own inspiring vision for long-term change.
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
This event is supported by the University of York’s Athena Swan Steering Group. Find out more about Athena Swan and equality, diversity and inclusion at the University of York.
About the speaker
Charlotte Proudman is an award-winning barrister. She won ‘Rising Star’ by the Women in Law Awards 2020, she was named ‘Hot 100’ by the Lawyer 2021, she was highly commended for ‘Junior Family Law Barrister of the Year’ and her case won ‘Case of the Year’ at the Family Law Awards 2021. She combines her legal career with academic work, as a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, where she researches and teaches gender inequality under law in the UK. In 2022, she founded ‘Right to Equality’ a radical organisation campaigning to change the law for women and girls putting gender justice at the top of the agenda. She is the author of He Said, She Said: Truth, Trauma and the Struggle for Justice in Family Court (Orion 2025).
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