Skip to main content
When the nightmares of domestic and sexual abuse come to work
Sexual abuse is not often thought of as a workplace issue. LOUISE RAW spotlights some of the harrowing ordeals women face – and how the Bakers Union is teaming up with women’s rights activists to raise awareness of the problem
Rachel Williams, who had her knee shot (top, right) by her abusive husband

“OF THOSE who had experienced domestic violence, over 40 per cent said it had affected their ability to work” (TUC Survey).

Talented, friendly and good with customers, Rachel Williams was everything an employer could ask for, yet the salon owner in Newport, South Wales, where she worked as a junior hairstylist until 2002 found that employing her “came with problems.”  

This was something of an understatement. Rachel was in a relationship with a controlling and dangerous man and, as her colleagues would discover, domestic abusers rarely confine control over victims’ lives to the domestic sphere. 

Morning Star call for advertising
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Moronic billionaire Elon Musk is shown during a live video l
Features / 31 January 2025
31 January 2025
LOUISE RAW reports back from the United States on the dystopian future its ruling tycoons have planned for us – and our need to take a stand against the far right in Britain now
Covid
Features / 11 December 2024
11 December 2024
LOUISE RAW speaks to Long Covid sufferer Sam Williams and others who feel let down by a state that ignores their debilitating illness
Anti -racism protesters demonstrate in Brentford, London. Pi
Features / 9 August 2024
9 August 2024
While Wednesday night’s glorious anti-fascist turnout up and down the country was a heartening sight, the far right will seek revenge for their humiliation – our anti-racism work needs to kick up a gear, argues LOUISE RAW
Mick Finnegan
Features / 16 March 2024
16 March 2024
Louise Raw talks to MICK FINNEGAN, a child abuse whistleblower whose ordeal is still not over, as 12 months on from the expected publication of an official judge’s report into the complaints, he and other survivors are still waiting