Towards a world without gendered violence

We are still waiting for clarity on how the government will tackle men’s violence against women without relying on an already overwhelmed criminal justice system, one which discriminates against people of colour and does not prevent perpetrators from reoffending.

Such vague commitments to women’s safety have led people to ask, yet again, what can be done to stop male violence. Official responses to the high-profile murders of Sabina Nessa, Nicole Smallman, Bibaa Henry, Sarah Everard and Libby Squire – to name a few – have been criticised as victim-blaming, superficial and ineffective. At a time when the UK has essentially ‘decriminalised’ rape, how can we tackle a pervasive issue like gendered violence? If longer prison sentences or well-lit streets are unlikely to make the world safer for women, then what will? These repetitive discussions often take us to what feels like a hopeless space.

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