Launched in December 2020, the Greater Manchester Women & Girls’ Equality Panel brings together a diverse group of 20 well informed women from across our ten boroughs with the aim of accelerating gender equality, enabling women and girls to live their best life in Greater Manchester.
Having identified Violence Against Women and Girls as one of their initial priority areas, the Panel established a working group to consider this issue in greater depth. The working group has played a significant role in shaping the new Greater Manchester Gender Based Violence Strategy.
Panel members have provided a sounding board as the strategy has been developed, offering strategic advice based on both their lived experience and professional expertise (as organisations that provide support to those affected by abuse and violence).
Specifically, the Panel identified a number of areas that the GBV strategy needed to set out a clear response to, including in relation to providing appropriate housing provision and the need to educate young people in order to change harmful attitudes and behaviours.
The input from the Panel has helped to ensure that the final Strategy sets out a responsive programme of work which will enhance the safety of women and girls, while preventing gender-based violence from occurring in the first place and challenging the attitudes and inequalities that enable it.
The Panel will continue to influence the strategy, having a key role in its implementation. This could include, for example, a role in supporting education and training programmes and campaigns etc.
The Panel has also lobbied to ensure that the GBV Board includes representation from specialist organisations and that victims voices are represented on the GBV board.