Tracy Brabin unveils her Safety of Women and Girls Strategy

The country’s first and only female metro-mayor has launched her Safety of Women and Girls Strategy, revealing the shocking experiences and challenges facing women and girls in the region.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin (Image: WYCA)

It outlines a plan to tackle this, through four key areas of work designed to bring about change:

• Education and Prevention: through events to raise awareness of the issue in schools, colleges, and universities across the region;
• Behaviour Change: including delivering a behaviour change programme to empower men to be allies;
• Safe Spaces: working to improve safety in the public, private and digital space;
• and Supporting the Sector: securing funding for vital services in the region through working together with partners.

Each key area is underpinned by two cross-cutting themes – 'the role of men and boys' and 'equality, diversity and inclusion'.

The strategy, which puts the voices of women and girls at its heart, will be delivered in partnership with West Yorkshire Police, local councils, community organisations, businesses, and the public.

A further £1 million of funding has been made available by the Mayor to support the plan’s delivery.

This builds on considerable work already ongoing in the region including funding for victims’ services, domestic abuse perpetrator programmes, and 'Ask for Angela' services in bars and clubs, as well as a SmartTag spray for use in night-time venues.

Mayor Brabin said: “We owe it to every little girl growing up in our brilliant and diverse region to provide them with a future where they are safe from harm.

"Male violence against women and girls is a scourge that must be addressed, and as someone who has experienced this first-hand, I have made that my top priority.”

“Our time is now - we must do this together to overcome generations of injustice and harm and drive this important change.”

Alison Lowe OBE, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, added: “As a survivor of sexual and domestic abuse, I feel a strong personal responsibility towards making West Yorkshire safer for women and girls.

“When it happened to me many years ago, I did not believe that I had a voice. But I am here now as the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in West Yorkshire to tell you that you will be heard, you will be believed, and you will be supported."

To find out more visit westyorks-ca.gov.uk/womenandgirls.

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