Leaders vow to make Greater Manchester safer for women and girls

It's hoped a 10 year action plan will improve the safety of women and girls in Greater Manchester.

A consultation's begun into Gender Based Violence to gain a wide range of views on proposals developed to tackle gender-based violence in the city-region, ranging from how men and boys treat women and girls to strengthening services for victims and survivors.

The proposals have been created as part of an ambitious 10-year Gender-Based Violence Strategy, which aims to improve the safety of mainly women and girls who are most at risk of gender-based abuse and violence. In light of the urgency to address gender-based violence, the public are being asked to provide their feedback on the plans put together by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to ensure it captures the right issues.

The plans for the Gender-Based Violence Strategy include looking at many different ways to combat it. This ranges from how men and boys treat women and girls to strengthening services for victims and survivors, which will include a public service campaign to raise awareness of the support available. The proposals will also look at health services, educational establishments, the criminal justice system and housing providers – including services for people who have been made homeless as a result of domestic violence.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “I want the streets of Greater Manchester to be safe and welcoming for women and girls living, studying and working across our 10 boroughs. No-one should be made to feel intimated or threatened in our city-region. In my second term as Mayor I’ll be prioritising work in this area, including working to educate and change attitudes sadly too prevalent among some boys and men, so Greater Manchester becomes one of the safest places for girls and young women in the country to grow up and get on.

“We have been planning to launch the strategy to tackle all forms of gender-based violence in Greater Manchester for some time. We now want to begin consulting and listening to further feedback from the general public on what needs to be done, to help shape our ambitions and to ensure we change things for the better, together.”

Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, Bev Hughes, said: “Tackling gender-based violence is an area I’ve worked on for many years and we are committed to combating these harrowing crimes. We want a city-region that is safe for everyone regardless of your gender, whether at home, at school, college or university, at work or in groups and activities.

“We will continue to listen to our citizens-young people as well as adults from all our different communities as we develop our 10-year Gender-Based Violence Strategy. Including the views and experiences of the people it effects is imperative to achieving the best we can and making this work in practice in our city-region.

“The proposals so far cover a wide range of issues we want to address, but it is important everyone in Greater Manchester gives us their feedback to help us get this right.”

You can find out more here.

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