Councillors come together to support women and girls who have experienced violence

Elected members joined together today (25 November) wearing white ribbons to support a motion on notice presented by Councillor Sally Haydon, Cabinet Member for Community Safety at the Full Council meeting.

White Ribbon Day is today and coincides with the United Nation’s Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the first day of the annual 16 Days of Activism.

The aim of White Ribbon is to work to prevent men’s violence against women and girls, aiming to stop violence before it starts. The Council received the White Ribbon accreditation in November 2022.

Sally has today pledged for Plymouth City Council:

• To include the Primary Prevention of violence against women and girls within our policies and strategies across all departments, alongside responses to gender-based violence
• To write to Jess Phillips MP, Minister for Safeguarding and VAWG to request an increase in government investment and statutory sources of funding for specialist organisations working on Primary Prevention initiatives aimed at addressing the underlying factors contributing to violence against women.

The need for the work is seen in the lived experiences of women and girls across the UK:

• 70% of women in the UK say they have experienced sexual harassment in public
• three in five women have experienced sexual harassment, bullying or verbal abuse in the workplace
• 15% of women in England have experienced online violence
• Nearly a quarter of girls in mixed sex schools said they had experiences of unwanted sexual touching in school
• 1.4 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023
• 63% of men agree that men in society aren’t doing enough to ensure the safety of women and girls.

Sally said: “We must acknowledge the critical role that we, as decision makers and Councillors play in shaping and implementing policies that prioritise preventing violence against women and girls and helping to create a more equal society where all individuals, regardless of gender, can live freely without the fear of violence.

“We need to take this seriously; I am really pleased to see that Councillors have come together today to be united in tackling violence against women and girls in our city. We want to build an environment that doesn’t tolerate violence against women and girls.”

Councillor Zoe Reilly, Violence Against Women and Girls Champion for the city, added: “We need to keep pushing this message about ending VAWG, it is really shocking to see that 70% of women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in public, this needs to stop.

“It is really great to see members come together to support the White Ribbon campaign.”

Local charities First Light, Trevi, and Sanctuary were present at the Council House with stands to mark the day, they had available resources and information about their work tackling violence against women and girls.