Women’s experiences have to be understood in the context of a social world where we are still far from achieving equality for women.

Women are judged by a different value system to men and, as a consequence, are more harshly judged in the secure psychiatric and criminal justice systems. Our services must begin to recognise the impact of the oppression that women experience.

This is a particularly relevant issue at the moment as the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee (PPC) released  a report last week looking into how we treat women in the criminal justice system, and found that services were undermining rather than supporting women in their recovery.

What are the most important areas are for you within the mental health and criminal justice systems, and the associated statutory services (such as NHS, prisons and services provided by local councils)?

Fill in the WMHN questionnaire. 

Through the Women’s Mental Health Network, Wish will then launch user-led campaigns to improve these areas.