News & Campaigns

All the latest from HER-itage and our affiliates

Suzy Lamplugh Trust General Election Manifesto on Stalking and Harassment

Stalking and harassment make up 43% of all recorded violence against women and girls (VAWG) crimes. Yet, despite the prevalence of these crimes, stalking and harassment victims are continuously deprioritised within the criminal justice system with convictions remaining woefully low. It is vital that stalking and harassment victims do not fall through the cracks in this general election.

As such, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust is calling on all political parties to ensure victims of stalking and harassment are adequately supported.

Our key recommendations include:

  • Publishing a national Tackling Stalking Plan that covers all criminal justice agencies.
  • Ring-fencing £243,810,000 in funding for specialist stalking support services.
  • Mandating specialist stalking training across all criminal justice agencies.
  • Committing to rolling out Multi-Agency Stalking Intervention Programmes across police forces.
  • Introducing legislation to criminalise third-party harassment in the workplace.
  • Mandating the recording and reporting of all incidents of harassment in the workplace.

For more detail, read the full list of recommendations in our manifesto.

https://www.suzylamplugh.org/suzy-lamplugh-trust-general-election-manifesto-on-stalking-and-harassment

 

June 11, 2024

Black women in London face higher femicide rates

Black women in London are said to be facing a “crisis”, with higher rates of femicide in the capital than other ethnic groups, new figures reveal.

Femicide broadly refers to the killing of a woman or girl because of her gender, highlighting the issue of violence targeted specifically at females.

Figures obtained by the PA News agency from the Metropolitan Police show of the 21 femicide victims recorded by the force in 2022, nine victims (43%) were black.

The figure rose the following year when eight of the 13 femicide victims (62%) were black, the data shows.

Met Police data also shows sharp instruments were the most common method for killing the victims, being used in 13 of the 25 femicides recorded in 2021, 16 of the 21 in 2022 and seven of the 13 in 2023.

‘Our women need to be protected’

Southall Black Sisters, an organisation dedicated to assisting society’s most marginalised victims of abuse, said while the findings are “really shocking,” it sadly does not come as a surprise that there’s a disproportionate impact on black women.

The group’s Selma Taha sad: “Why is the value of black women’s lives so obsolete, they’re facing a crisis… we need politicians and the police to step up.”

The Femicide Census, a database providing detailed information on women killed in the UK and their perpetrators, criticised the Met Police and the Mayor of London, saying they “simply don’t care enough” about femicide.

Met Police Commander Kevin Southworth said: “We take violence against women and girls in all its forms extremely seriously.

“We are committed to protecting those who are at risk, regardless of their ethnicity or faith, and understand that communities are affected in different ways.

“We work with victim-survivors, charities and partners to listen to, transform and improve our response to all victims.”

Responding to the Femicide Census’ claim that the Met had previously refused to release this data, he said: “We provided data for all women who had been killed between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021 to the Femicide Consensus – the data that was not released was due to families who did not wish for the victims’ data and details to be shared in any form.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0xxgn82yv7o

June 3, 2024

Bectu calls on creative industries to get behind independent standards authority as 9 in 10 creative workers say they have been sexually harassed at work

Bectu, the UK’s union for creative industry workers, has called on broadcasters, studios, streamers, production companies and other creative industry bodies and employers to financially back the newly-established Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority – as 84% of industry workers say the sector needs an independent body to investigate, report and prevent harassment.

  • One in five working in the UK’s creative industries have experienced a serious sexual assault while at work.
  • Of those who have reported an incident to their employer, just 9% thought that it was dealt with appropriately.
  • 92% agree that the creative industries allows a dynamic where those in power can too easily abuse their status.
  • Bectu trade union has launched a helpline for members who experience sexual harassment at work.

This comes as new research from the union reveals that a shocking 92% of the workforce has witnessed or experienced bullying or harassment on grounds of their sex or gender in the workplace. The research also points to a lack of adequate and trusted reporting mechanisms, with just 13% of UK creative workers confident that the industry is taking effective action to deter unwanted behaviours at work.

The survey of workers across the UK’s creative industries – including film and TV, theatre, live events, broadcasting and cinema – found that six in ten creative workers had experienced unwanted and/or inappropriate touching, hugging or kissing; and a quarter have witnessed the circulation of pornography in the workplace.

85 per cent of those surveyed had experienced or witnessed an incident of sexual harassment in their place of work (85%), and for half of those surveyed, incidents had occurred at a work-related social event.

For the majority, the perpetrator was a colleague (64%) or multiple colleagues (37%), and most likely someone senior (55%) or the person’s manager or head of department (26%). For those working in theatre, live events and cinemas, perpetrators were more likely to be attending events or members of the public.

Worryingly, respondents felt that high-profile cases, such as the allegations against Russell Brand, have done little to shift the dial; only 14% say that high-profile cases have improved employers’ responses to sexual harassment in the creative sector.

Reporting systems broken; toxic environments allowed to fester

The survey found that reporting systems across the creative industries are not fit for purpose, with many driven to leave their job rather than reporting sexual harassment, for fear of reprisal. This disproportionately affects the freelance workforce – of those who left their job, 31% were in full time employment and 69% were freelancers.

83% of respondents felt that behaviours that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life are often tolerated in the creative sector, and just a third of respondents (and less than a quarter of freelancers) felt confident about how to report an incident of sexual harassment at work.

More than 60% chose not to report an incident because they were worried it would negatively impact their career.

Freelancers even more exposed

The precarity of freelancing alongside a lack of employee support structures means that freelancers working in the creative industries face even more challenges when dealing with sexual harassment at work.

84% of respondents believe it is harder to report incidents of sexual harassment as a freelancer.

More than half of freelancers did not report incidents because they were worried that it might lose them work (59%) or that it would negatively impact their career (71% compared to 30% of full time employees).

Many respondents talked about the power imbalances and that they felt disposable compared to performers or ‘talent’ that they worked with.

Part of a longer press release at https://bectu.org.uk/news/bectu-calls-on-creative-industries-to-get-behind-independent-standards-authority-as-9-in-10-creative-workers-say-they-have-been-sexually-harassed-at-work

June 3, 2024