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25
Nov
Harrogate hosts summit to tackle violence against women and girls
A summit aimed at tackling violence against women and girls was held in Harrogate today.
Jo Coles, the Labour deputy mayor for policing in York and North Yorkshire, chaired the event, which featured guest speakers ranging from victims of domestic abuse to the charities that help them.
The event, which was held at Pavilions of Harrogate at the Great Yorkshire Showground, was attended by about 100 people.
In July, the National Police Chiefs’ Council declared violence against women and girls a national emergency, with one in 12 women estimated to be a victim of the issue each year.
Ms Coles told the Stray Ferret that today’s summit was designed to see how North Yorkshire can play its part in tackling the issue.
She said:
The government has set a mission to halve violence against women and girls in the next 10 years. We are keen to capture the picture of how we are at the moment, where things are at and where we need to go next.
It’s also about what the particular challenges are for York and North Yorkshire and to make sure we do things with our partners to do our best to contribute to that reduction.
Coercive control
The summit, which was held on White Ribbon Day — a day which encourages men to hold themselves accountable for violence against women and girls — heard from a range of speakers.
Among them was Laura Pulleyn, a survivor of domestic abuse and managing director of the Ford Family Foundation, who gave a candid account of her experience with her ex-partner.
She spoke of years of abuse, which included coercive control and violence until she left the relationship with the help of domestic abuse charity IDAS.
Meanwhile, Sarah Hill, chief executive of IDAS, gave a speech where she suggested that a “cultural shift” is required to tackle violence against women and girls.
She said:
We need to make it abuse against women as intolerable as drink driving. We also need to individually challenge harmful behaviours.
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