Professor Aisha K. Gill, Ph.D. (University of Essex) CBE is Professor of Criminology. Her main areas of interest focus on health and criminal justice responses to violence against Black, minority ethnic and refugee women and girls in the UK, Afghanistan, Georgia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Libya, India, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. Professor Gill is often in the news as a commentator on early/child/forced marriage, violence predicated on 'honour', and sexual violence in South Asian communities. She writes for mainstream popular as well as academic audiences. Her current research interests include domestic violence; coercive control; rights, law and early/child/forced marriage/female genital mutilation; 'honour' killings and 'honour'-based violence in the South Asian/Kurdish/Somali Diaspora and femicide in Iraqi Kurdistan, India, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan and Yemen; missing women; acid violence; child contact; child sexual abuse; trafficking; sexual violence and exploitation; sex selective abortions; intersectionality; women who kill; rape, trauma and victimhood in Black and racially minoritised communities; Covid -19 and domestic violence/abuse. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals (see publications section). Since March 2020, Gill recently completed an Nuffield funded research on the effectiveness of forced marriage protection orders, in colloboration with University of Lincoln. During the coronavirus pandemic she was  hands-on at the grassroots level in terms of raising emergency Covid-19 funds for refugee/asylum/migrant victims-survivors of gender-based violence - who have no recourse to public funds. To date she has raised over £90K for specialist 'By and For' VAWG services. In April 2021, Gill was appointed as one of the five judges for the CEDAW's People's Tribunal hearing, on women's rights in the United Kingdom. She is currently working on a ESRC project on tackling police responses to gender-based violence in Black and minoritised communities with the University of Lincoln. Professor Gill has been involved in addressing the problem of violence against women and girls (VAWG) at the grassroots level for 20+ years. She is invited adviser to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) strategic support group on investigations and complaints involving gendered forms of violence against women in the UK (including domestic violence/abuse); member of Liberty's Project Advisory Group; member of Kurdish Women's Rights Watch; Imkaan and Chair of Newham Asian Women's Project (2004-2009 - aka London Black Women's Project). In October 2019, she was invited to join the Victims' Commissioner's Advisory Panel, chaired by Dame Vera Baird, QC. Gill has extensive experience of providing expert advice to the Government, Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Metropolitan Police, Crown Prosecution Service, and the voluntary sector on legal policy issues related to 'honour-based violence/abuse, 'honour' killings, forced marriage and female genital mutilation. She has challenged politicians to be more inclusive of racially minoritised women's voices in policy-making on issues of gender-based violence and human rights. From 2019-2024, she served as Co-Chair of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, of which she remains an Associate Member. In June 2024, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Ashiana Network - a specialist 'by and for' provider of critical frontline support for women and children affected by gender-based violence and harm.  

Topics interested in supervising

I am particularly interested in supervising postgraduate research in the following areas:

• Covid-19, domestic violence in Black and minority ethnic and refugee communities, health inequalities, poverty, structural racism violence against women/crimes of patriarchy/femicide/forced marriage/ 'honour' killings/ 'honour'-based violence/female genital mutilation gender, crime and victimisation gender, human rights and/or feminist theory women's movements and policy policing, punishment and crime ('race', gender and social class) policing, violence and ethnic minorities, domestic violence, criminal justice policy and law, sexual violence and child sexual exploitation, acid violence, bride kidnappings, sex-selective abortions, intersectionality, victimology and women who kill, coercive control and violence policing public spaces, gender-related hate crimes/Incel based violence, victimhood and agency, virginity testing and hymenoplasty surgery, femicide policing and domestic violence, rape as a weapon of war.

Media

1. How the legal tools to prevent forced marriage can lead to further abuse:  https://theconversation.com/how-the-legal-tools-to-prevent-forced-marriage-can-lead-to-further-abuse-206424 
2. ‘Tip of the iceberg’: Forced marriage reports soar but true scale of problem still hidden:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/forced-marriage-protection-orders-b2344787.html 
3. BBC Woman’s Hour – Forced Marriage https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/m001lytm 
4. The Balancing Act, BBC Radio 4. Discussion with Jeremy Bowen about media reporting of child sexual exploitation:   https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jkk5/broadcasts/upcoming
5. LBC radio. Discussion of Metropolitan Police using counter-terrorism tactics to catch men attacking women: UKRADLBC_07-18-2023_16.39.24.wma (sharepoint.com)
6. Concerns over the rise of acid attacks: Fresh warning over rise of 'copycat' acid attacks in Britain as map shows how there have been FOUR chemical assaults in just two weeks - including Clapham and Croydon | Daily Mail Online ; https://ustimespost.com/shocking-rise-in-chemical-attacks-in-uk-including-clapham-horror-and-mystery-substance-thrown-on-woman-in-pub/ 
7. Acid attacks are a form of violence against women – the law needs to treat them as such https://theconversation.com/acid-attacks-are-a-form-of-violence-against-women-the-law-needs-to-treat-them-as-such-223040