Ending violence against women: a cooperative challenge

This weekend sees the world unite in support of International Day of the Girl, established by the United Nations in 2012 to raise awareness of the inequality faced by girls across the globe. The theme this year is “Empowering adolescent girls: ending the cycle of violence”. On Friday I took part in the launch of Plan UK’s ‘Face Up to Violence’ campaign in Waterloo station. The campaign sees members of the public, politicians and celebrities are writing messages against violence on their faces – where it cannot be ignored – and submitting the photos online.

We know that the levels of violence against women and girls in this country remains a national scandal. Some of the statistics are genuinely shocking. An estimated that 85,000 women were raped last year; 12.9million incidents of domestic violence were recorded against women last year; 1 in 5 women have been victims on a sexual offence since the age of 16; and around 2500 children a day in the UK are witnessing violence in their own home. Recent media reports highlighted how sexual abuse in British classrooms is increasing figures showed that over 300 alleged rapes were reported in schools in the last three years. On Friday a global campaign to End FGM was launched by the inspirational Nimko Ali and her fellow campaigners.

Yet under Theresa May’s watch, prosecutions and convictions for rape, child sex offences and domestic violence are dropping, even though reported offences are going up.

The Labour Party has made stopping violence against women and girls a key priority for their programme for Government. Earlier this year, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP announced that a Labour Government would bring in new legislation to give better support to victims of violence and bring perpetrators to justice. Measures include introducing a new Commissioner for Domestic and Sexual Violence to sit at the heart of Government and ensure victims voices are being heard; new national standards for policing to drive up performance across the board; and introducing compulsory sex & relationship education in all state-funded schools, so young people are taught that no form of violence in relationships is acceptable. Our Women’s Safety Commission headed up by Vera Baird and Diana Holland will also be making important recommendations for how we improve safety on our streets and in our workplaces. A more effective strategy for preventing violence is key to seeing the shift we need.

I am pleased that the Cooperative Party have published their excellent policy document on “Women and Equality” which will make an important contribution to the debate about how we as a society come together to better tackle violence against women and girls. The report recognises that women and girls are far more frequently the victims of relational violence; that under-reporting is extremely high and women are at the highest risk of serious injury or death as a result of their abuse. There is much to do to ensure the effective working together across departments and between different public sector agencies to see prevention, early intervention and improved access to justice.

There is no single answer to how we tackle violence against women and girls. It won’t be solved by politicians. Instead it needs a coalition of supporters – police, teachers, parents, Children and young people, doctors, nurses, women’s groups – to really challenge a culture in which violence against women is not swept under the carpet or hidden behind the net curtains. The cooperative movement has harnessed the power of many voices to change things in the past. It must now do the same to stop more women and girls from becoming victims of violence. We must be ambitious about what we can achieve. The Labour Party doesn’t just want to see less violence against women, it wants to end it altogether.

Over the next few months, I look forward to working closely with the Cooperative Party and others to develop and test the ideas for what will make a difference, so that we are ready in our first Queen’s Speech to bring about the changes we need.

Seema Malhotra MP is the Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls