Cleveland Women’s Network is a partnership of local agencies working across the unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton[1]. We have shared aims and values and work collaboratively to end men’s violence against women and girls and to provide support to those subjected to abuse. Cleveland Police has a significant issue with domestic and sexual violence; Home Office evidence suggests that domestic abuse per 1000 head of population is 50% higher in Cleveland than the England & Wales or North East average. The Femicide Census evidenced the Cleveland area as having one of the highest rates of femicide, per head of population[2] and our highly stretched members note increasing demand for their services, year on year. This isn’t good enough for the women and girls in our area and we are here to demand change, to hold abusive men accountable, to ensure specialist services are appropriately and sustainably funded and to help ensure that women and girls can have a life that is centred on hope and joy, not harm and fear.
The Cleveland Women’s Network brings together charitable women’s organisations who, together, have a stronger voice for women. Across the region, the CWN has a reach like no other organisation – we are unique in so many ways. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be the Vice Chair of the CWN for the last few years. – Richinda Taylor, Vice Chair of CWN and CEO of Eva Women’s Aid, Redcar and Cleveland.
Our members work to support victims and survivors’ of domestic abuse, sexual violence and sexual exploitation whenever it happened in their lives. We offer trauma-responsive, individualised support, with a sound evidence base, based on decades of research, work experience and user-led consultation with those using our services. Our services are often under-funded and funded in a way that focusses on short-term outcomes, not the long-term realities of women and girls’ lives which have been impacted by trauma. We recognise the barriers faced by those with protected characteristics and work towards providing specialisms of service that meet the individual needs of victims and survivors’ and hold them wholly central to our work.
CWN provides a collaborative approach to identifying gaps for victims and ensuring service responses are needs led. Our Network has improved access to services for diverse communities and has bought together our survivors to highlight improvements. Yasmin Khan, Chair of CWN and Director of Halo Project, Middlesbrough.
Cleveland Women’s Network believes another way is possible. We believe it is possible to end men’s violence against women and girls and that perpetrators can be held accountable for their actions. We recognise that the root of men’s violence is the issue of power, ownership and entitlement, which leads to control and violence – but that this is not inevitable. We urge the UK government to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention[3], which would create a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combating violence against women and is focused on preventing abuse, protecting victims and prosecuting accused offenders. The convention also establishes obligations in relation to the collection of data and supporting research in the field of violence against women, which would ensure we have accurate data regarding all of the experiences of women and girls in order to be able to recognise the issues they are facing as the epidemic we know it is; which is well-evidenced by the specialist led by and for women’s sector and more recently, by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Service, in their recent report commissioned by the Home Secretary in response to the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer[4].
[1] http://www.clevelandwomensnetwork.co.uk/
[2] https://www.femicidecensus.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Femicide-Census-10-year-report.pdf
[3] https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/home
[4] https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/police-response-to-violence-against-women-and-girls/
