£44m to Tackle Violence Against Women in London

The Mayor of London has announced he will be investing £44m to make London the safest city in the world for women and girls.
Coming after an in-depth consultation with survivors, partners, Londoners and the police, Sadiq Khan’s new strategy will tackle violence against women and girls, and the misogynistic attitudes that allow these crimes to continue, with the investment up to 2020.
Speaking with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women’s group Imkaan at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in north London, Sadiq Khan said: “The safety of all Londoners is my first priority and as a proud feminist I find it simply unacceptable that any woman or girl in our city should experience these devastating crimes.
“As we mark 100 years since the first women were entitled to vote and in the week of International Women’s Day, it is time for every Londoner to call out sexist and misogynistic attitudes wherever they encounter them – in the workplace, at school, on the streets or on public transport.
While comparatively London is already one of the safest cities in the world for women, 11 women and girls are raped and sexually assaulted every week, and one in ten crimes reported to the Met police is domestic abuse.
The new wide-ranging strategy includes measures to tackle rape, sexual assault, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), trafficking, controlling behaviour, forced marriages, stalking, harassment, and misogyny. It aims to build on the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns.
The strategy will look at improving safety in public spaces at all times, with a specific attention to transport networks as well as everyday sexism and misogyny, in particular among young people. It will also introduce a Good Work Standard to address the #MeToo phenomenon and ensure abuse is not tolerated in the workplace.
In terms of tackling perpetrators, new programmes to tackle stalking will be introduced, backed by £4m. Over £3m will go towards the rehabilitative Drive project which provides additional support to help reform the behaviour of perpetrators. With this investment, the Mayor will also call for the government to create a register for domestic abusers, and for tougher sentences for “image-based offences”, such as upskirting and revenge porn.
The London Council’s Harmful Practices programme will receive £200,000 to train nurses, midwives and social workers to recognize abuses such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and to intervene. A further investment of £27m will go towards protect and support victims, as well as a complete overhaul of the Victims’ Code of Practice, a new online portal for victims of crime, and a study into rape cases from a victim’s perspective.
Speaking about his new strategy, Sadiq Khan said: “My new strategy puts forward a comprehensive package of measures to intervene and prevent violence against women and girls, to tackle dangerous individuals who pose a risk in our communities, and to improve services for victims who have already suffered so much.
“I want every woman and girl to be safe and to feel safe wherever they are in our great city – and will use all the levers available to us at City Hall to make this a reality.”
> Borislava Todorova