This article references domestic abuse, rape, and homicide.
2024 was, in many ways, defined by violence against women and girls. The murders of Carol, Hannah and Louise Hunt in July were swiftly followed by the mass stabbing of young girls at a dance class, which killed Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alica da Silva Aguiar. Shortly afterwards, a woman and her 11-year-old daughter were stabbed in Leicester Square. Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei was killed by her ex-partner who’d set her on fire. The world then learned of the horrors of the mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot as her case went to trial. And just before Christmas, it was reported that the man who killed Amie Gray as she picnicked with a friend on the beach harboured strong misogynistic views.
The appalling misinformation and far-right violence that followed the tragic stabbings in Southport sought to distort public concerns about male violence against women and girls to spread a hateful agenda. The role of mainstream media and political rhetoric in normalising racist and anti-migrant narratives and the role of tech companies, which allowed extreme misinformation for clicks to spread so rapidly, must also be examined if we are to address some of the deeper causes of the riots.
At a time when our political and information landscape is so deeply polarised, we need government actions and policies that are rooted in the values of our universal rights, freedoms and equality.
We're living through a femicide – and no one wants to talk about it.
The Prime Minister has committed to halving violence against women and girls in a decade; something that requires all parts of government to work together to deliver a whole-society approach to ending this abuse. The success of this mission must be determined by the transformed experiences of victims and survivors of male violence against women and girls, the majority of whom never report the abuse committed against them, and remain unable to access the safety, support and justice they deserve.
This means we must broaden the scope beyond a narrow focus on the criminal justice system and look holistically at everything from the role of healthcare, housing, education and beyond. By addressing inequality, equipping professionals with the tools to identify and respond to abuse, and educating young people on consent and healthy relationships, we can turn the focus towards preventing harm, rather than only responding after harm has happened.
Education is a crucial part of our campaign with Glamour UK, #NotYourPorn, world-leading expert Professor Clare McGlynn and survivor Jodie*. We have to face the increasing challenge of image-based abuse such as non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes and so-called ‘revenge porn’. These forms of abuse cause deep harm to victims and have a chilling effect on women’s freedom of speech when threats are used to silence women who ‘speak out’ or engage with social media or any public forum.
She spoke to GLAMOUR about life in government, tackling male violence, and why she has no regrets for calling out Andrew Tate.
When women and girls are abused, specialist support services are vitally important in helping them recover, access justice and remain safe from further harm. However, many are facing extreme financial distress, as successive governments have failed to deliver the resources needed to keep these services afloat. Rape crisis centres, domestic abuse refuges and specialist community services for Black, migrant and minoritised women provide a lifeline to women who need them. A government committed to tackling violence against women cannot allow them to close their waiting lists, or shut down completely.
It’s been six months since the new government came into power, and we are still waiting to see how it will meet its commitments to meaningfully tackle violence against women and girls. The rhetoric around making a priority of prevention is not enough – we need to see multi-year funding that meets the demand for specialist support and advocacy for victims, quality relationships and sex education prioritised in schools for every young person, and a whole-society approach to tackling abuse spear-headed across every government department.
The scale of violence against women and girls in the UK is a national emergency and we cannot afford to waste time – we need a meaningful strategy for change that starts delivering on the government’s mission now.
GLAMOUR is campaigning for the government to introduce an Image-Based Abuse Bill in partnership with Jodie Campaigns, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn.
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