VAWG (Violence against Women & Girls) - Public Spaces Consultation

Overview

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is under-reported, yet can be very common and can be all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering to women,

Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life

It is both a form of discrimination and violation of human rights and includes the following:

Physical violence
Domestic violence and abuse
Coercive and controlling behaviour
Sexual violence including rape
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Forced marriage
Crimes in the name of 'honour'
Stalking
Prostitution and trafficking
Sexual exploitation
Girls and gang violence

Everyone has the right to feel safe in their community, whether that is travelling whether to socialise or work.  Sevenoaks District Council is keen to find out about safety for women and girls in public places and how we can work together to address these concerns, whether that is around knowledge of how to feel safe, changes in the environment, or education to boys and men around their attitude and behaviour towards women and girls.

Why your views matter

We are sending out this consultation to get your views on what VAWG means to you and how it influences your use of public spaces. We also know that many of the behaviours listed above go unreported. So, we want to know what we can do to help to make people and especially women and girls feel safe in our District.

Any information you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which can be viewed at www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/privacy.

What happens next

The consultation will be used to look at how partners can work together to make women and girls feel safer across th District.