EVAW welcomes national campaign to shift attitudes and behaviours

The government has today (25^th October 2022) launched phase two of its public campaign to prevent violence against women and girls.

The Enough campaign aims to shape the attitudes that drive and normalise this abuse, so that women and girls don’t become victims in the first place.

This campaign is a win for the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), which has called for a public campaign of this nature since 2018.

Prevention must be the cornerstone of any work to tackle and end violence against women and girls, and we welcome the campaign’s focus on engaging men and boys, shifting public attitudes and providing practical information on how to play an active role in ending violence against women and girls.

EVAW is clear that violence against women and girls is not inevitable, but if we are to see transformation at a societal level, this work to change attitudes and behaviours must be long-term and properly funded. It must also be shaped by organisations specialising in violence against women and girls, including those led by and for Black and minoritised women, as marginalised women experience disproportionate rates of male violence due to racist misogyny.

Deniz Uğur, Deputy Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“We welcome this next phase of the government’s Enough campaign to tackle male violence against women and girls, something the End Violence Against Women Coalition has campaigned for years. We know that without shifting the attitudes behind male violence against women, this violence won’t end.

“We’re pleased to see the Enough campaign focus on what everyone in society can do to end violence against women, because too often, campaigns are targeted at women and wrongly place the responsibility on us to ‘keep ourselves safe’. But ending violence against women is everyone’s business. We want to see men and boys actively engaged in this conversation, because we should all be able to take action and hold each other accountable.

“Preventing violence is always better than waiting until harm has been done to act. Achieving this requires a genuine commitment, because this work takes time and needs dedicated and long-term resourcing.”

ENDS

Media contact

Sinead Geoghegan, Communications Manager, media@evaw.org.uk 07960 744 502