RAISE YOUR VOICE
By Sarah Stack, RYV Coordinator
In April 2024, Raise Your Voice reviewed andupdatedthecontentoftheworkshops on themes of sexual harassment and bystander interventions following the publication of several reports in relation to sexual harassment in the workplace Since these changes, RYV delivered 15 workshops to over 275 participants. Evaluation data shows that RYV workshops are important for prevention of VAWG by tackling root causes of gender-based violence and support much needed cultural shift to make lasting societal change.
•98% of participants indicated that their knowledge of sexual harassment and bystander interventions increased as a resultoftheworkshop.
•92% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that they had a better understanding of the link between sexist attitudes, discriminatory practices and gender-basedviolence.
Interested in a workshop for your group orworkplace?
The Ending Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy
By Elaine Crory, Women’s Sector Lobbyist, & Meghan Hoyt, WSL Policy Assistant
In late September, The Executive Office launched the first ever Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in the history of Northern Ireland This launch represents an important step, not just in bringing us in line with other jurisdictions on these islands, but in recognising what the women’s movement has long argued; that prevention is the key to finding our way out of the maze we are in Within a few weeks of the launch of the Strategy, several more women had been murdered in Northern Ireland, in a year that has been particularly bad, even by our standards. Even worse, we know this is the very tip of the pyramid of violence, the numbers harmed in thistimeareimpossibletocount.
There had been a number of Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategies before this (and another 7 year Strategy was approved around the same time) but these are fundamentally different in intention and in content. For starters, they are gender neutral to serve all survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, but also they are reactive rather than preventative in focus – they work towards providing the vital services that are needed, but they do not have anupstreamfocus,asthisStrategydoes.
Instead, this Strategy was moulded around the pillars of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention. Those pillars – Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and co-ordinated Policies –became the guiding principles and provide a useful snapshot of the outcomes expected. Around 50% of the agreed actions focus on prevention, andeveryoneisinvitedtogetinvolved.
The EVAWG Strategy cont...
Prevention is particularly important because we need to understand the causes of VAWG, the beliefs that motivate it, and to include all manifestations of VAWG,ratherthanthefocusingonlyonthe very worst violence, such as femicide. The goal is to prevent biased beliefs from developingintosexistbehavioursandfrom escalating into violence in the first place and to put in place interventions that can identify these issues before someone is harmed, while the justice system is improved and services made more widely available, at the same time, to make sure that those who do become victims are treatedproperly,caredfor,andthatjustice canbedone.
For the first funded period, some organisations will be funded to carry out work across Northern Ireland, and other pots of funding will be available, administered locally by Councils, for grassroots groups and more placefocused groups to carry out prevention work, such as education and awareness programmes, in their local area. Built into this is an active encouragement for organisations to share workloads an expertise, particularly when there are organisations with VAWG expertise who can help to “skill up” smaller grassroots groups. It is an attempt to live up to the Strategy’s slogan; “there is something everyonecando”.
WRDA was part of the co-design group thatcontributedtotheStrategy,ourwork inresearchingVAWG,especiallyour2022 research into the scope, scale and prevalence of VAWG was included in the research considered by the Strategy team. We also hope to be involved in the workthatcomesoutoftheStrategyitself. But involvement in strategies and codesign groups does not necessarily guarantee that we are confident about the final product. This Strategy is different; it holds really transformational power and can be a key to involving communities all across NI in the significantchangeweneedtomake. It is ambitious, and it is not going to be quick or particularly easy to achieve, but it can be done if we all pull in the same direction
https://wwwexecutiveoffice-nigovuk/topics /ending-violence-against-women-and-girls
Reclaim the Night
By Danielle Roberts, Communications & Sustainability Officer, Reclaim the Agenda
Reclaim the Night was revived in Belfast in 2014, building on a long tradition of similar events both locally and further afield. The first Reclaim the Night march tookplaceinLeedsin1977,whenwomen were advised not to go out at night by thepoliceasaresponsetotheYorkshire Ripper murders. Feminists took to the streets in protest of this curfew on women, and similar events took place acrossEngland
In Belfast groups including Rape Crisis, Lesbian Line and students unions organised a ‘March Against Male Violence’ in 1987 led by a DIY banner reading‘ReclaimtheNight’andplentyof placards which unfortunately are as relevant today. Some footage of that march is in the NI Screen Digital Film Archieve[1], where you can see women carrying flaming torches as they walked from Queen’s University to City Hall In 2017 the artist who designed the poster for the 1987 march, Louise Walsh, updated the image for the current iterationofReclaimtheNighttouse.
Since 2014 Reclaim the Night Belfast hastakenplaceonthelastSaturdayof November,aspartoftheglobal16days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign. With the exception of an online event in 2020 and static rallyin2021,therouteofthemarchhas takeninsomesymboliclandmarks.
Before the march, we gather at Writers Square,closetoUUBorthe‘ArtCollege’ It is well documented that schools and universities are often sites of sexual harassment and gender based violence, and many women first experience street harassment while in theirschooluniform Wearepleasedto have had a representative of the Student Union Movement to speak at eachReclaimtheNight.
The march starts in what has been dubbed the ‘Queer Quarter’ of Belfast We recognise that LGBTQ+ people, and in particular trans femmes experience gender based violence at disproportionate rates. One of our speakers each year has been a representative of a Trans Rights and A
Reclaim the Night
The march moves past City Hall, a symbolofourpoliticalsystem.Apolitical system that is slowly catching up on legislatingonissuessuchasstalkingand the long awaited Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, but still lagging behind on others like RSE. We also take in the offices of the Public Prosecution Service, the Courts, and a PSNIstation Thiswasdeliberateasthese buildingsaresymbolsofasystemwhich contributes to the low reporting and conviction rates in relation to sexual violence.
The march finishes by the Albert Clock, an area once associated with sex work. Our current legislation, which criminalises the purchase of sex, makes sexworkerslesssafe Arepresentativeof selforganisedsexworkershasspokenat or provided a speech for each Reclaim theNightBelfast.
The march and rally provides both a space to raise our collective voices against gender based violence and streetharassment,andanopportunityto come together to show our support for victims and survivors. Reclaim the Night Belfast 2024 will take place on Saturday November30th GatheratWritersSquare for speakers at 5:30pm before marching through the city centre to reclaim public space for all. And now for the first time, Foyle Women’s Information Network will host Reclaim the Night in DerryLondonderryonSaturday30thNovember thisyear!
Reclaim the Night Belfast 2023
#16 Days of Activism
A key aspect of our project is our social media presence and tackling sexual harassment and sexual violence in online spaces Many thanks to Danielle Roberts for being our fabulous Social MediaVolunteer.
Our #16Days campaign is “Let’s Talk about Sexual Harassment”, following the title of our first workshop we developed and delivered in 2019. See the images belowandthroughoutthee-zine!
Contribute to the e-zine Contribute to the e-zine
Yellow Badge
Black Badge