A PLEDGE for action to end violence against women and girls has received cross party support from Warwick District Council (WDC).
A motion to end violence against women and girls, proposed by Labour councillor Mini Mangat and seconded by Conservative councillor Richard Hales, was unanimously adopted by WDC.
The motion requires the council to work with organisations part of the Safer South Warwickshire Board including the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office to discuss strategy, action plans and resources to eliminate the violence.
Coun Mangat opened the motion saying: “Being alone in a public space at night can be terrifying; you simultaneously wish for someone to appear to protect you but are incredibly fearful that if a person appears they may harm you.
“Walking alone at night, even in well-lit areas is not fun if your a woman. When women are out, they now have to protect themselves against needle spiking and cover our drinks.
“Violent incidents occur in and out of the home, by known or unknown perpetrators.
“This is all male violence against women so we must stop treating women as the problem.
“We now need a cultural shift and start to focus on prevention work at an early age to address the root causes of gender inequality.”
To demonstrate his commitment, Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe added his voice to a global call for men to ‘Make The Promise’ to say no to violence against women and girls on White Ribbon Day (November 25).
Mr Seccombe said: “Making the pledge is a very simple act that demonstrates my support for a concerted effort to end violence committed by men against women. This is a real opportunity to get the message out that male violence against women must end.
“We can all make a difference by thinking of our own behaviour and what we are doing to call out sexist and harassing behaviour whenever we see it. A key part of the White Ribbon campaign is to encourage all men to listen to women and learn to be allies, so that we can end violence against women once and for all. I’m very supportive of this aim, as despite much progress in the work to tackle issues such as domestic abuse, honour-based crimes, harassment and misogyny over recent years, there is still much more to be done.”
The office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire funds range of services dedicated to supporting victims and helping the vulnerable, including those affected by domestic and sexual abuse.
And a successful in a bid for £249,000 of additional funding from the Home Office will be used improve public places across the county women and girls have reported feeling unsafe in and Mr Seccombe has also secured a further £200,000 government funding for a programme for domestic abuse perpetrators to change their offending behaviour.
