Today isn’t just Valentine’s Day – it’s V-day too…

Today across the globe one billion people are rising up against violence against women. This year marks the 16^th annual V-day, brainchild of Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler. Trafalgar Square will be the national focal point for V-day and its goals, with MP’s Yvette Cooper and Stella Creasy leading the way.

Recently the Ministry of Justice, Office for National Statistics and the Home Office released its first ever joint Official statistics on sexual violence. The findings are shocking.  Over 85,000 women are raped in the UK every year, and 400,000 are sexually assaulted. This is a seven percent increase since 2009.

I was lucky; I didn’t grow up in a home with domestic violence.  But my mum’s friend was not so fortunate. She had hot dinners thrown over her, eyes punched, ribs cracked and teeth broken.  She and her four children, all under the age of 10, sought refuge in an anonymous hostel for victims of domestic abuse. Her husband found out where she was, and tried to beat the hostel door down. The horrors she and her kids went through spurred me to volunteer at the same shelter; I looked after children while their mothers went to court to get protection orders against their abusive partners.

We know the austerity cuts have hit women hardest, and this is clearly shown in  domestic violence services. Women’s Aid estimates in their report “A Growing Crisis of Unmet Need” that 27,900 women were turned away from the first refuge they approached in 2012. Specialist services have been abandoned in favour of more generic support, and cuts to resettlement services means vulnerable women and children are being let down when they need support most.

It is fitting, then, that the theme of V-Day this year is Justice, and several legislative recommendations have been made to drive the goals of V-Day forward. These include the repeal of visa laws that tie domestic workers to their employers and put them at serious risk of exploitation and abuse, and improvements in immigration detention centres to ensure that vulnerable women are not subject to violence.

But we also need to educate. Sex and Relationship Education should be compulsory in every UK school; the Children and Families Bill needs urgent amendment. It also needs to be fit for purpose; I’d go further and insist there is a module on domestic and sexual violence. With 1 in 5 women over the age of 16 reporting they have been a victim of sexual assault, we need to reimagine the way we are tackling violence against women.  Putting it firmly in the classroom is the way forward.

We also need a media component to SRE so students can understand the impact TV, film, advertising and the internet have on sex and relationships. We should also be properly equipping teachers to educate on these tricky topics, so they feel supported and confident in the classroom. Girls and boys deserve 21^st century SRE education fit for violence free 21^st century relationships.