NEW: 76% of people don’t trust politicians to tackle violence against women and girls

New data from the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) finds that 76% of people do not trust politicians generally to tackle violence against women and girls.

With political parties’ general election campaigns underway and violence against women and girls notably absent from the televised debates and media narratives, EVAW has written to all major political party leaders calling on them to show leadership on ending violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Last year, with over 70 expert VAWG organisations we produced a manifesto which set out a roadmap for the next government to make tangible progress towards ending VAWG.

This means looking beyond the criminal justice system alone, and taking a whole-society approach to ending VAWG which prioritises preventing abuse before it starts and centring the most marginalised.

Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“Too many women and girls’ lives continue to be plagued by an epidemic of men’s violence and abuse, and then failed by the institutions meant to protect them. We deserve better than reactive policy-making, laws that aren’t implemented, and short-term initiatives that fail to prevent and tackle this violence or address the inequality and social attitudes that drive it.

With political party manifestos published last week, we have seen very little commitment to solutions which address the root causes of violence against women and girls, consider the needs of the most marginalised survivors, and take an approach which upholds our fundamental rights.

Violence against women and girls is not inevitable – it is entirely preventable. Expert women’s organisations have set out a roadmap that the next government can take to create meaningful change for survivors and society as a whole. With trust in politicians low, it’s time for party leaders to listen and take action.”

Addressed to political party leaders including Conservative leader Rishi Sunak, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party, our letter calls on party leaders to respond to three key questions:

1. Prevention: What are your party’s commitments to stop violence against women and girls from happening in the first place?

2. Funding: Will your party address the chronic underfunding of specialist support services for women and girls, particularly those led ‘by and for’ marginalised women?

3. Rights and inequalities: How will your party uphold the rights of Black and minoritised, migrant, Deaf and disabled, and LGBT+ survivors?

ENDS

Media contact
Sinead Geoghegan, Head of Communications, media@evaw.org.uk 07960 744 502

Editor’s notes
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,075 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 18th – 19th January 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).