There is widespread recognition among policy makers, professionals and activists in Britain that Canadian work on violence against women has been in the vanguard. However, as Canadian research can be difficult to access from the UK, many in this country are vague about the details.

This report brings together ‘state-of-the-art’ accounts of Canadian approaches to violence against women and discusses them in the context of current UK policy.

In particular, it looks at:

refuges and women’s services and campaigns;

government responses and inter-agency approaches to challenging violence against women;

law enforcement and legal reform;

work with children and young people;

the connection between research, activism and practice.

Challenging violence against women is required reading for policy makers in government, statutory and voluntary sector agencies, for activists in the women’s movement against rape, sexual assault and domestic violence, and for academics in Canadian studies, women’s studies, criminology and the social sciences.