Dr Charlotte Proudman is a Senior Research Associate, researching and teaching gender inequality under the law. Charlotte is an award-winning barrister and academic with an interest in challenging legislation that discriminates against women, girls and marginalised people. She focuses on gendered issues such as FGM, rape, domestic abuse, coercive control, prostitution, pornography and abortion. Charlotte has supervised students in a variety of areas of interest including: the male gaze in pornography, the barriers for LGBTQIA+ people seeking support for domestic abuse, vigilante justice and homelessness for migrant women with no recourse to public funds. Charlotte was awarded a doctorate in FGM law and policy from King's College, Cambridge. Oxford University Press published her book in 2022, 'FGM: When Culture and Law Clash'. As an expert in FGM, Charlotte was instrumental in the introduction of FGM Protection Orders (FGMPOs) and she continues to represent victims of FGM in the family and immigration courts.
In her capacity as a barrister, Charlotte represents survivors of rape and domestic abuse in court whilst also challenging misconceptions across the sector. She uses her knowledge and experience of the justice system to advocate for legal change to ensure protection and support for victims and survivors. Ranked as Legal 500’s Leading Junior, Charlotte is described as: ‘Charlotte is taking the protection of vulnerable women and children in the Family Court to the next level by a unique combination of academic rigour and unashamedly activist passion. She has made more of a contribution to changing the landscape around the conversation on violence against women and girls than any other junior at the family Bar. She is intellectually first class, an incisive advocate and absolutely fearless in vindicating the rights of some of the most vulnerable in society.‘
For over a decade, Charlotte has fearlessly advocated for legal change to advance the rights of women. Along with women’s rights organisations, she has successfully spearheaded campaigns to change the law for women. Charlotte was instrumental in the criminalisation of forced marriage, virginity testing, hymenoplasty and child marriage. Alongside Girls Not Brides, Charlotte campaigned for the age of marriage to increase from 16 to 18 years old. She is a legal advisor to Our Streets Now and Plan UK, a campaign to criminalise public sexual harassment and Bloody Good Period, which aims to make period products freely available in Britain. Charlotte is an advisor to the Vagina Museum and ila, a start-up working to provide safe spaces for victims of abuse. In partnership with the Good Law Project, Charlotte has founded ‘Right to Equality’, a not for profit that campaigns to change the law for women and girls.
