This week, Solace joined 96 other specialist violence against women and girls (VAWG) to write to the Prime Minister in light of the tragic death of Sarah Everard.
This week, Solace joined 96 other specialist violence against women and girls (VAWG) to write to the Prime Minister in light of the tragic death of Sarah Everard. The sector is united in saying that the level of attention we have seen to these issues in recent days is long overdue, and could be described as a watershed moment. But it is a conversation that must also be widened to consider all women who have had their lives taken.
The letter highlighted that the Government’s recent response led with more funding to improve street lighting, cameras and placing plain clothes police officers in nightclubs rather than providing the specialist support women and girls need, reforming the broken criminal justice response to these forms of violence and abuse, tackling intersecting layers of inequalities and delivering the societal shifts to end men’s violence.
The sector has urged the Prime Minister to:
- Name the problem and state clearly that this is an issue of men’s violence against women, rooted in sexism and inequality between men and women. This includes having a co-ordinated approach to VAWG;
- Put primary prevention at the heart of the response;
- Deliver equal access to rights entitlement for all women and girls including widening the Domestic Abuse Bill to support migrant survivors;
- Secure the future of the support services women and girls need through flexible, multi-year funding;
- Priorities the systems change required to tackle men’s violence.