Content warning: mentions of sexual assault and domestic violence

Ahead of the mayoral elections, the mayor of London, Labour’s Sadiq Khan, is vowing to put tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) at the centre of his third term as mayor if he’s re-elected on 2 May. He said that his plan would go “further than any city has ever gone in the UK” to tackle VAWG and includes 10 key pledges in his manifesto:

• Funding a pilot of free, independent legal advice to survivors of rape and serious sexual offences.
• Tackling misogyny in schools: this includes continuing the development of a toolkit for teachers as well as providing additional outreach and training to schools.
• Delivering safe accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse.
• Continuing to work with the Metropolitan police commissioner to reform policing.
• Investing in work to support victims and the organisations that support them.
• Building on tagging domestic abuse offenders: this includes the expansion of tagging for convicted offenders of non-domestic abuse-related stalking offences.
• Working with the Met police to drive up detection and conviction rates on domestic abuse, rape and stalking.
• Continuing to work with the Met police to improve the safety of women in public spaces, particularly around the Women’s Night Safety Charter.
• Developing a new VAWG criminal justice partnership initiative to improve case file quality.
• Continuing to support London’s victims’ commissioner.

The funding of free legal advice for VAWG is the first of its kind in the UK and promises to help victims feel informed about their rights throughout the entire process. This new service will be signposted to any person who comes forward when reporting a crime to the police – from advice on providing evidence to the police (such as mobile phone requests) to ensuring victims are aware of the legal obligations of public agencies.

In light of the Casey report that found the Met to be “institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic”, women’s confidence in the police is low, especially when it comes to how they handle violence against women. According to recent data from Refuge, 39% of women said they had not much or no trust in the police to handle VAWG and a quarter of women said their trust in the police has gone down over the last year.

This lack of confidence in the police is something that Khan recognises alongside “structural and systemic issues in the police service”.

The mayor accepts that the Met needs to reform its practices and attitudes, which includes tackling inappropriate behaviour within the force quickly and efficiently. “The police and our public institutions need to understand there’s a problem in the systems and cultures that exist and those problems need addressing. It’s only then that women and girls will feel more confident in coming forward to report a crime,” Khan tells Stylist.

The Women’s Night Safety Charter also forms part of this new plan. “For too long, women and girls have had to deal with this as a problem for them to solve, but men need to be allies in this too,” says Khan. He also explains that men have to understand that their experiences are very different to those of women in public spaces.

It’s why there will be an even bigger effort to drive more organisations to sign up to the charter so that more venues and spaces have trained staff and guidelines in place to encourage a change in cultures and attitudes. “Too often, boys and men think it’s ‘banter’, but it’s not.”

For Khan, tackling VAWG needs to take a public health approach with its roots in the criminal justice system. “We have to treat the infection in order to get better – to stop it from spreading – but we also want to stop the infection occurring in the first place.”

The 24/7 Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Line can be reached for free by calling 0808 500 2222 or visiting the Rape Crisis England & Wales website. If you need emergency help, call 999.

Image: Rex Features