Greta Squire

I have always been interested in feminism and in particular how feminist activists effect change. As I started to develop my understanding through my own academic study, I grew particularly interested in how feminist organisations work within the State. I began researching and writing about this back in 2002, with a particular focus upon the New Labour administration in the UK and the feminist groups working to provide front-line services for survivors of men’s violence against women. I wrote several chapters and articles around this issue, in particular the tensions that arise when there is a diametrically opposed ideological position. Since then, I have developed my work to include some wider issues around the States response to tackling violence, whether that’s through using new legislation such as that used to tackle hate crime, or how the voluntary sector works to provide support to survivors.

I am currently working on completing my PhD at the University of Bristol, with a focus upon the current backlash against the Istanbul Convention, which is a feminist policy framework around gender-based violence. This research aims to consider the impact of the backlash and the counter-strategies used by feminist organisations to the pushback. The research uses a transformative mixed methods approach and is focused within a European context.