SATEDA’s response to the UK Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy

SATEDA welcomes the Government’s VAWG strategy, which shines a bright light on the risks of harm which are inherent by simply being a woman or a girl. The strategy vitally calls for systemic changes, of attitudes and behaviours – which is long overdue.

We welcome the tangible link between abuse and mental health, the overall prioritisation of prevention, and the focus on pursuing perpetrators. However, how this will be implemented lacks specifics and relies on an already overworked police force to respond to the nuances of male violence and control and relies heavily on women and girls to report to an institution many have low trust in.

We are also concerned by the lack of explicit mention of domestic abuse within this strategy which, given the gendered nature of domestic abuse, needs to be linked to the domestic abuse strategy.

That said, this VAWG strategy is a call to arms against misogyny – and we hope it will have enough teeth to make a real difference to the lives of women and girls.