Maria Garner

Dr Maria Garner

Small Group Project 2022-23

The Work of Working on Violence: Reflecting on researching violence against women

The increase in public and policy interest in violence against women and girls (VAWG) has repositioned it from a niche topic of study to a popular and necessary focus across disciplines including sociology, philosophy, and cultural theory. What has had less attention is the level of emotional labour involved in such research when one comes to the field with personal experiences of sexual violence and harassment. Exacerbating the limited work in this area are the ways in which, as feminist research has gained traction within the academy, its calling card of ‘the personal is political’ has given way to a perceived requirement for a more hygienic mode of data presentation.

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Areas of interest

Feminism Gender Violence Sexualisation Women

Cohort

FG6

Biography

Dr Maria Garner is a researcher at the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Metropolitan University, one of Europe's leading research units on violence against women and children. Her work spans feminist research on gender-based violence, the sexualisation of culture, and policy development around violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Garner has been a key contributor to major policy initiatives, including the development of the Mayor of London's VAWG strategy — a public health-led approach bringing together the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, the Greater London Authority, the VAWG sector, local authorities, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the NHS. She has also led evaluation work for local authorities including the London Borough of Waltham Forest, assessing community-based early intervention responses to VAWG.

Biographical details correct as of 29.04.26