Launched by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in March, the Together We Can End Violence Against Women And Girls consultation, is intended to raise awareness, and generate debate on what more could be done to end violence against women and girls. We want women and girls to feel safe and confident in their homes and communities, so that they can live freely, and prosper in their daily lives.
The consultation includes a review into police powers for dealing with serial perpetrators of domestic violence, and a review of the sexualisation of teenage girls.
By logging on to www.homeoffice.gov.uk/keepwomensafe members of the public have the opportunity to contribute to the debate and tell Government what they think would help make all women and girls feel safer.
Findings from an opinion poll commissioned by the Home Office and conducted by Ipsos Mori show:
- that more than one third of respondents know a woman who has been the victim of violence from a man she knows.
- just over two in five respondents believe that a woman should be held either partly or fully responsible for being sexually assaulted or raped if she has been
Home Office Minister Alan Campbell said:
"Violence against women, in all its forms, is unacceptable and we all have a role to play in ending it. That is why we started the biggest cross-Government consultation ever undertaken around this issue.
"We are committed to ensuring victims of violence are at the heart of the criminal justice system by giving them the support they need to feel confident in coming forward and reporting these cowardly crimes."
The consultation has already engaged thousands of members of the public and professional stakeholders across England over a period of several weeks and has covered a range of issues, including:
- Tackling persistent perpetrators including a review into what additional powers police and courts may need to control violent perpetrators, particularly serial offenders who move between relationships.
- Helping women feel safer when they travel including a new website, enabling the public to report where they feel safe or unsafe and why; and the expansion of the Park Mark safer car parks scheme.
- A fact-finding review into the increasing sexualisation of teenage girls
- A new advisory group with a specific focus on how schools can prevent violence against women.
The proposals build on a programme of action that Government has delivered to tackle sexual violence through unprecedented investment and policies that transform the way the Criminal Justice System deals with domestic and sexual violence.
The key themes being consulted on are:
- How do we prevent violence against women from happening in the first place?
- How do we reduce women's disproportionate fear of violence and the disabling effect this has on many lives?
- How do we help friends, family, employers and public services to identify early signs of violence as soon as possible and do something about it?
- How do we make sure that women who seek specialist help, or need to leave home to start a new life, receive a consistent level of local support wherever they live?
- How do we protect and support the children who are growing up in violent households?
- How do we build confidence in the criminal justice system to improve reporting?
- How do we make sure that men who have attacked or abused already don't continue to do so?
