It’s #AboutTime: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Starts in Schools

You may have seen that last week a new report titled “It’s #AboutTime – A Whole School Approach to Ending Violence Against Women and Girls” was recently published, shedding light on the alarming prevalence of violence against women and girls within schools.  

The report is a collaboration between the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) and UK Feminista, highlighting the need for a whole-school approach to ending violence against women and girls. 

Within it reveals that nearly one-third of girls surveyed do not feel safe from sexual harassment in school. Furthermore, 24% of girls in mixed-sex schools reported experiencing unwanted sexual touching in school, and 1 in 4 girls had shared a sexual image of themselves. Of those, a quarter felt pressured into it, and almost a third initially wanted to but later regretted it. 

These statistics are concerning and highlight the urgent need for action to address the issue of violence against women and girls within schools.  Calling for a transformation of the school culture, with 80% of girls surveyed stating that schools need to do more to tackle this issue and support young people’s sex and relationships education. 

For those who have been following BelEve for a while, you’ll know that our charity supports girls and young women in all aspects of life, and one way we do this has been by working to address this issue of modern sexual harassment through our “It is That Deep” programme.  

The programme equips young women with the tools to understand different forms of sexual harassment, how to safeguard each other, and how to set boundaries to prevent girls from becoming victims. The programme has been well-received, with over 3,000 young people having benefited from it to date. 

As Founders of BelEve and third-party, trained specialists in this area, we feel this report is timely. BelEve’s “It is That Deep” is now the go-to programme provider for the Borough of Lewisham, which is a fitting example of how we can make a difference, but we want to do more.  

With the school year ending we would like to connect with as many schools as possible, so that come September we can continue to offer our whole school approach, whereby girls and young women can access a safe space for practical resources and training within a supportive environment. 

Please do get in touch if you would like to find out more.  And if you haven’t had a chance to read the report, please access it via this link.