Blackpool leads the fight to end violence against women and girls
Today marks the beginning of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence – an issue I am passionate about. In Blackpool we have a wealth of organisations working towards ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) – five of which have been given a boost this autumn with money seized from criminals.
Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw has handed proceeds of crime funds back into our community where it belongs. Five local projects working to make women and girls safer in our town have benefitted from up to £5,000 to prevent violence, support survivors and build safer spaces across Blackpool.
Fylde Coast Women’s Aid is using its funding to deliver trauma-informed, culturally sensitive support for Black, Asian and minority ethnic women and girls affected by violence, and the Birchall Trust will grow its Wellbeing Programme – running peer support groups for adult survivors of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation. Both groups give women space to recover, rebuild and take back control of their lives.
Blackpool’s annual Reclaim The Night march, organised by Empowerment with support from Reclaim Blackpool
Other projects are putting young people in charge. Empowerment Charity is running a youth-led project that is training ten young people from across Blackpool’s schools to become VAWG Champions. Over 14 weeks, they are meeting weekly to talk openly about gender equality, toxic masculinity, healthy relationships.
The United Youth Alliance’s (UYA) Social Action Group meanwhile is leading educational and community projects that aim to stop violence before it starts.
When I visited UYA’s girls group at the Claremont First Step Centre on Dickson Road, I met Ella, Evie, Tilly, Chloe, Candice and Olivia – all aged between 14 and 18. They spoke with real passion about what they’ve already achieved.
With youth workers and girls from the UYA’s girl’s group
They’ve contributed to Plan UK’s State of Girls’ Rights Report, worked with local schools and academics on a gender bias census, teamed up with Sport England to look at access to sport, and raised concerns about sexual harassment on buses with Blackpool Transport. They don’t just talk about change, they make it happen.
Reclaim Blackpool is another project doing incredible work. This grassroots group has mapped over 350 testimonies from women across the town who’ve faced harassment and abuse in public spaces.
Reclaimblackpoolmap.co.uk is a powerful reminder of what women deal with every day – catcalling, unwanted advances, spiking and worse. The funding from the PCC will help them grow the project, reach more women and run creative workshops that will end with a showcase on International Women’s Day next year.
The plot points on reclaimblackpoolmap.co.uk each indicate a story of sexual harassment
This year’s global theme for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is Unite to End Digital Violence.
Online spaces are now part of everyday life but they are not always safe, particularly for women and girls who are are at risk of image-based abuse, cyberstalking and online harassment. the same culture of control and intimidation that exists on our streets has moved onto our screens.
We have to treat digital violence as seriously as physical abuse – holding social media companies to account, teaching digital respect and consent in schools and making sure local services understand how tech-based abuse works.
Violence against women and girls is a national emergency. Women know it intuitively. The threat is in the forefront of their minds when the check over their shoulder on their walk home, when they text a friend to say they got in safe and when they worry about what awaits them behind their own front door.
Fixing this problem isn’t someone else’s job – it’s on all of us as allies. We have to challenge misogyny when we see it and we have to make sure the next generation grows up knowing equality isn’t optional – it’s expected.
I’m proud to back every single one of these projects and I’ll be watching their progress closely. Like them, I’ll continue standing up against gender-based violence until every woman and girl in our town can live free from fear – in public, at home and online.
If you’ve been affected by violence, harassment or abuse, you can speak to Fylde Coast Women’s Aid on 01253 596 699 or Refuge’s 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247. For sexual violence support, contact the Birchall Trust on 01253 362 140. In an emergency call 999.
