November 25^th marked White Ribbon Day, the start of 16 days of global awareness raising and campaigning to prevent violence against women and girls.

The campaign calls upon individuals, communities, and organisations to take a stand against misogyny, gender-based violence and abuse, while the White Ribbon itself symbolises the commitment of men – fathers, husbands, brothers and boyfriends – to be part of the solution.

Violence against women and girls takes many forms, including homicide, sexual assault, stalking and sexual exploitation, but also female genital mutilation, forced marriages and harassment in the home and workplace.

Because violence against women and girls takes so many forms, the scale of the problem can be hard to quantify.

This week, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released new data, based on prosecutions and police statistics, that calculates 1.4million women were victims of domestic abuse in the previous year.

But sadly, we know the problem runs even deeper than that, is harder to measure, and often hidden from wider society.

Addressing this issue needs action.

As Leader of Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Lead for Equalities and Communities, I am passionate about the rights and protection of women. I have seen first hand the horrendous impact domestic violence has on women, children, families, and communities.

I am proud that Oldham Council is now a White Ribbon accredited local authority and our staff, professional care workers, and partners are making a real difference towards ending violence against women by promoting a culture of respect and equality.

Across our council and region, this is a priority.

We work hard to recognise the specific needs of groups of women and girls who are particularly vulnerable, or whose needs can often be missed, disguised, or ignored by others.

For example, we employ specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisors who focus on supporting victims of so-called “honour-based” violence within some of our communities.

We also invest in supporting voluntary, community and faith sector women’s networks, funding organisations such as Keeping Our Girls Safe, UK Education and Faith Foundation and Support & Action Women’s Network who provide community-based support which is accessible to women from different ethnic minority communities.

Domestic Violence is not just a women’s and girls’ issue – men and boys are at the heart of preventing and tackling the issue, and changing attitudes and behaviours are at its heart.

Working with perpetrators is important – both to ensure there are consequences for violence and to prevent perpetrators from reoffending.

As well as working with the police on targeting enforcement activity on high risk, high harm offenders, Oldham Council is also funding the charity Talk-Listen-Change to deliver behaviour change programmes with perpetrators, adults and young people who display harmful behaviour.

This week, Oldham Council hosted a conference titled ‘Me Myself and I’ attended by secondary school pupils from across the borough and supported by our youth council to encourage young people to go back to their schools and develop projects to raise awareness of the issues with their peers. Oldham’s Safeguarding Partnership training officer also delivered online safety and healthy relationships assemblies for 7,500 students in schools and colleges last year.

And the spectre of domestic violence looms across many demographics.

We worked with a group of survivors to co-produce a powerful short film “Eggshells” to raise awareness of the issue of coercive control – limiting access to money, friends and family.

And at the other end of the age spectrum, our #IsThisOK? social media campaign encourages young men to challenge other men and boys when they witness toxic masculinity, violent or threatening behaviour towards women and girls.

In Oldham we have also invested in an amazing local organisation Street Angels, working to make women and girls feel safer on our tram network – adding extra CCTV at platforms and stations and coordinating regular safety checks by Metrolink staff and Greater Manchester Police on the network.

A night out should be a safe event and working with our licensed trade partners, every bar and pub in Oldham now has a safe space for women who feel threatened.

But there is more which needs to be done.

With a General Election perhaps only months away, it was a privilege to work with other Labour leaders at a recent White Ribbon Webinar accessed by a few hundred virtual attendees to help shape policy recommendations.

Labour in government will use every lever available to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and girls, from education to policing, from community services to online regulation and more.

In government we will put specialists into the policing system: domestic abuse workers in the control rooms of every police force responding to 999 calls and supporting victims of abuse; and specialist rape units to make sure every victim has access to support and investigators are rigorously trained to solve these complex crimes.

16 days of campaigning and raising awareness is a vital start – but with Labour in government we will see a national commitment to tackling violence – and the threat of violence – against women and girls across all our communities.

Cllr. Arooj Shah, Leader Oldham Council