Thursday November 25th 2021
Today is the first day of ’16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence’. It’s been 30 years since this campaign began, and I dearly wish I had better progress to report. Nearly one in three women have been subjected to physical or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, a level that has not changed much in a decade.
During the Covid crisis things got worse with reports of domestic abuse around the world increasing, in what the UN called the ‘shadow pandemic’. It has exacerbated other inequalities too, with 11 million girls at risk of not returning to school and 47 million more women and girls pushed into extreme poverty, perpetuating structural inequalities which reinforce violence against women and girls.
In the UK, the campaign against violence against women has been put in sharper focus this year by the horrific murder of Sarah Everard who was kidnapped, raped and strangled by a serving police officer, and as her mother put it, ‘“disposed of as if she were rubbish”.
Yet while this appalling crime reached the public eye, most victims of men’s violence remain largely below the radar. In just 28 weeks after that dreadful murder, at least 81 more women in the UK have been killed at the hands of men.
This is not a ‘women’s issue’ – it’s a human rights scandal present in every high street. We need more focussed action at every level to make change happen. While there have been significant improvements in the policy responses in Scotland in recent years, there’s still a long way to go to make sure the support and services are easily accessed by all who need them. We also need to ask why the UK is dragging its heels about ratifying the Istanbul Convention it signed eleven years ago – the gold standard framework for preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence.
Crucially, we all have a role to play in tackling gender based violence at its roots, which lie in societal attitudes towards women and gender stereotypes. We have to look at how women are viewed and valued in society, and call out misogyny and abuse wherever it occurs. Women should not have to live in fear, to watch their backs, to avoid being ‘spiked’ in a nightclub or to be clued up on their legal rights if a police officer approaches them on a dark night. It’s up to men to stop committing these crimes.
Today I spent the afternoon campaigning with ‘White Ribbon Scotland’ at Waverley Station, a charity focussed on engaging men to campaign, speak out & take action to end violence against women. We are encouraging more men to sign the pledge never to commit, condone or to remain silent.
The fact that violence against women and girls remains so widespread in our society does not mean it is inevitable. The majority of men would never dream of committing violence against women of course, but all men have a role in recognising damaging attitudes and behaviour and having the courage to call it out.
I long for the day when we no longer need an annual campaign to raise awareness of brutal crimes committed against women and girls. We cannot give up hope that this day will come, but in the meantime we must keep fighting to make it happen. Violence against women is a blight on our society that demands much greater attention from all of us.
Tweet Share on Facebook
