Schoolgirls have reported misogyny beginning “on the playground” as a new three-year plan to tackle violence against women and girls throughout Liverpool has been unveiled.
Data recorded by the city council has found that among the quarter of a million women in Liverpool, it is estimated a third will or have experienced violence during their lifetime.
Between October 2021 and September 2022, Merseyside Police were called out to 14,935 domestic abuse incidents, an average of 1,245 per month.
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This resulted in 12,287 recorded crimes, an average of 1,024 per month. In a bid to curb incidents of violence against females, Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson has unveiled a new three-year plan following consultation with social groups across the city, including young girls and students who shared their experiences in and out of school, as well as organisations involved in supporting those affected.
The new strategy seeks to meet five key ambitions including securing sustainable funding, improving responses to victim survivors and perpetrators, strengthening governance and accountability, as well as changing the narrative to allow women and girls feel safe in calling out and challenging victim shaming, misogyny and inappropriate behaviour from boys and men.
Speaking to the ECHO, Mayor Anderson said violence against women and girls was far reaching and not limited to Liverpool. She said: “It's a problem nationally, it's a problem globally.
“I worked at the Crown Prosecution Service and worked on this issue and I remember thinking women's lives are fairly cheap across the world in terms of how they’re treated and the consequences for violence against women.”
Mayor Anderson said she had spoken to organisations who had lamented a “lack of clarity and coordination” but the main block on progress was “the lack of funds and effective funding for this sector.” She added: “We get our funding from the Home Office, it’s quite piecemeal, one-off project related, so we need to work together to get more sustainable funding from national government.”
Other female leaders in the city, including Serena Kennedy, chief constable of Merseyside Police and Emily Spurrell, Merseyside police and crime commissioner, have inputted into the project, with Mayor Anderson describing all those involved as “really passionate” about the agenda. She said: “We've all got our part to play.
“It belongs to those who have developed it. Everyone's included in this, including schools and young people.
“I'm really proud that I can walk away and this gets to happen in the city and the vision that they've come up with and what they want to see over the next couple of years can be tackled.”
Liverpool was rocked last summer with the senseless killing of 9-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, while Ashley Dale, 28, was shot and killed in her own home in Old Swan. The death of the two young women was something Mayor Anderson said weighed heavily on her mind.
She said: “I don't think we're that much different than any other core city, but I have had two weeks in office where two women have died. That's not something I anticipated and I feel responsible as the Mayor of the city, even if I’m not but actually they are the lowest moments.
“I suppose those examples are very visible but women die every day, as a result of violence, whether it's domestic abuse or being caught up in gun and knife crime. It's an everyday occurrence and it's got worse, during the pandemic domestic abuse increased.
“During Christmas numbers increase, when football’s on. The figures are just going up, and we need to do more to tackle it.”
Mayor Anderson echoed her call for everyone to play a part in the plan - particularly calling on men to be allies and advocates. She said: “We need men.
“It's not it's not a women only issue. It's really hard to balance around perpetrator work and support for victims but if we don't tackle perpetrators, and we don't tackle men's behaviour in this equation, we're never going to change.
“Some of the interesting things that we hear from young girls is that they feel misogyny starts in the playground and we have to do more. There’s a whole programme of work around schools to tackle misogyny when it happens.”
In addition to the strategy, Liverpool Council, together with commissioner Emily Spurrell, secured £846k from the Home Office for the Safer Streets Liverpool project which has seen an increased uniformed police presence around transport hubs and on key bus routes, more CCTV, help point and a text message system to report concerns. Last year, a five year funding package was announced to support survivors of sexual violence by Merseyside’s Police Commissioner in partnership with councils including Liverpool, and the NHS.
Despite this, women are still speaking out about incidents they are experiencing. Mayor Anderson added: “Every woman has got that story and that's quite terrifying.
“These are the kinds of things that we're trying to make not normal. Education, awareness, tackling things, calling people, men calling other men out, these are the things that work.”
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