Academic
Cambridge Academic
Dr Charlotte Proudman is a Senior Research Associate at the Intellectual Forum, Jesus College, Cambridge. Combining legal practice with academic scholarship, she researches gender inequality under the law and continues to publish on issues relating to violence against women and structural injustice within the legal system.
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Prior to commencing her Fellowship, Charlotte was awarded her doctorate in FGM law and policy in Britain from King’s College, Cambridge, and an MPhil in Criminology from Queens’ College, Cambridge.
Photo: Tim Alex | Unsplash
Author of He Said She Said
In He Said, She Said: Truth, Trauma and the Struggle for Justice in the Family Courts, Charlotte exposes how deep-rooted sexism and structural inequality operate within the family justice system. Drawing on her years representing women in complex abuse cases, the book reveals how power, credibility and gender shape outcomes in courtrooms that are meant to protect the most vulnerable.
The Silencing of Survivors
Drawing on her experience at the family Bar, Charlotte has witnessed how survivors of sexual, physical and emotional violence are too often failed by the system that is supposed to protect them. She has seen women forced to relive the most traumatic moments of their lives in forensic detail, sometimes face-to-face with their abuser, subjected to adversarial cross-examination designed to undermine and discredit them. In He Said, She Said, she lays bare how legal processes can compound trauma rather than deliver justice.
‘He Said, She Said’ is an indictment of a legal system that protects abusers at the expense of survivors… A call to action.
Carol Vorderman
From early on in my career, I have known that to change [injustice] we must expose it.
Dr Charlotte Proudman
He Said She Said
Her indictment of the inequalities in the legal system should be required reading by lawyers and lawmakers alike.
Cathy Newman
You will be inspired and uplifted by the countless women who don’t and won’t give up.
Victoria Derbyshire
A compelling and insightful examination of the devastating impact of misogyny.
Cherie Blair CBE KC
Press this book into the hands of policymakers, politicians...and every judge.
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC
Research in Practice
Having represented women in cases involving rape, domestic abuse, child abduction, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, Proudman analyses how the family courts can deepen vulnerability through delay, lack of transparency and reliance on contested concepts such as “parental alienation.” The book bridges empirical research and lived legal reality, demonstrating how systemic bias and procedural design can place women and children at continued risk.
Demand for Reform
He Said, She Said is not only an account of injustice, but a demand for transformation. Through rigorous analysis and lived legal experience, Charlotte challenges the assumptions that silence survivors and calls for a justice system that prioritises safety, truth and accountability. By exposing how power operates within the family courts, she makes clear that meaningful reform begins with confronting what has too long been ignored.
Author of Female Genital Mutilation: When Culture and Law Clash
Charlotte is the author of Female Genital Mutilation: When Culture and Law Clash, a book examining the UK’s legal response to FGM since its criminalisation in 1985. Drawing on interviews with survivors, lawmakers, and professionals working to end the practice, the book explores the challenges of criminalising a culturally embedded practice and the role of FGM Protection Orders in the family courts. It also considers the broader social and legal debates surrounding efforts to eradicate FGM.
