750,000 children and young people across the UK witness or experience domestic abuse every year . In schools and higher education institutions across Wales there are young people, and staff, who are experiencing or perpetrating violence against women, domestic abuse or sexual violence. This affects their safety, health and mental health, their relationships and their education. Welsh Women’s Aid and the Welsh Government have developed a Good Practice Guide to help prevent these abuses.
Today sees the release of the new ‘Good Practice Guide: A Whole Education Approach to Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence in Wales’, which outlines how schools and higher education institutions can promote gender equality and respect and challenge violence against women. It includes information on how young people, staff, parents and carers can learn about violence against women and be involved in preventing it, how people experiencing abuse can be supported and how abuse can be prevented in the wider community.
The guide follows the Welsh Government’s introduction of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 and sits alongside other work that the Welsh Government is currently undertaking in this area.
Eleri Butler, Chief Executive, Welsh Women’s Aid, said:
“This guide provides schools and higher education institutions across Wales with a tool to tackle the epidemic problem of violence against women.”
“At a time when, in the past year, 1.4 million women aged 16-59 reported incidents of domestic abuse in England and Wales, with younger women aged 16-24 being those most at risk, informing and mobilising educational institutions is crucially important.”
“Raising awareness among young people, teachers, parents and carers about violence against women and, importantly, how they can help prevent it, means action can be taken at a decisive stage of young people’s lives. This is a vital step in putting an end to gender inequality and abuse.”