Basis Calls to Action to end Violence Against Women & Girls 

16 Days of Activism

As a charity the vast majority of the women and girls of the women we support are affected by violence. Violence comes in many different forms, sometimes more visible than others and most victims who are affected come from all walks of life

As a charity supporting women who sex work and/or sexually exploited the women we work with face the additional challenge of stigma, as well as sometimes substance use, poor health and the risk or history of homelessness. Women who experience racism or women from the trans community face additional barriers and are even less likely to trust services who in the past may have excluded them or their family members. Additional vulnerabilities also mean additional risk which in turn means less avenues for support open to you for instance in terms of accommodation. Stigma means you will be less trusting of the police or any other authorities, stigma means that perpetrators have another hold over you, stigma means you may less likely to be believed by a jury.

As an organisation we work hard day in day out to challenge stigma and advocate for women to access the support they need; witnessing too often that despite the best intentions of individuals, the system lets those who are most vulnerable down. That’s one of the reasons we deliver training in all aspects of our work; to share the experiences that will hopefully improve practice and influence system change. Mostly this is co-produced, sometimes in partnership with other agencies, such as our latest on Domestic Violence which has been co-produced by our colleagues at Women’s Health Matters.

While progress has been made so much more work needs to be done; on this day to End Violence Against Women and Girls, our call to action to those in authority to:

• Commit to address health and other inequalities as currently not all women and girls may receive the same response when they (finally) seek support with compassion, humility and dedicated adequate resources
• Improve understanding of supporting victims of violence of the impact of trauma and stigma – for instance through accessing co-produced training from agencies who work with such victims
• Truly value the experiences of women and offer a safe space to share these experiences in a way that will enable changes in a system that is currently too often unable to protect

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