Looking ahead to a post-pandemic world, both national and local Governments have pledged to Build Back Better. But we ask: better for whom? Better how? And, crucially, who gets to decide what’s ‘better’?
We believe that ‘better’ must mean better for those whose voices – marginalised for far too long – may have been silenced further by lockdown. Those voices have, disproportionately, belonged to women, who have borne the brunt of the past twelve months.
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Looking ahead to a post-pandemic world, both national and local Governments have pledged to Build Back Better. But we ask: better for whom? Better how? And, crucially, who gets to decide what’s ‘better’?
We believe that ‘better’ must mean better for those whose voices – marginalised for far too long – may have been silenced further by lockdown. Those voices have, disproportionately, belonged to women, who have borne the brunt of the past twelve months.
Join our Campaign – Share our posts, tell your stories
Mental Health
Advance call for better mental health and long-term support for all women and girls experiencing abuse and trauma, as we look towards building back better communities.
Domestic abuse not only costs the UK economy a staggering £66 billion a year (Home office 2019), it has long-lasting detrimental effects on women’s and children’s lives. It adversely impacts women’s mental health often for years, leaving many feeling they have no other choice but to take their own lives.
Women in contact with the criminal justice system often face multiple disadvantages and needs, such as poverty, gender-based abuse and violence, homelessness and problematic substance use that adversely affect their mental health and often leaves them trapped in the ‘revolving door’ of prison.Women Demand Better.
Read our full statement and report.
Community Support
We welcome the government’s new VAWG strategy (read here) focusing on prevention, support for survivors, holding perpetrators to account and stronger systems. We also welcome the government’s investment in community services and women’s centres for women on probation from July 2021, as committed in the government’s Female Offender strategy (read here).
To achieve the VAWG Strategy’s vision for ‘radical’ reform, the government must ensure that every survivor, woman and child receives the vital community support they need to be safe and services are fully funded to provide the support needed.
We call for:
- long-term sustainable investment of at least a further £400m a year, with the cost of domestic violence against women estimated to be £66bn a year in the UK.
- funding for holistic and long-term support for women in contact with the criminal justice system and diversion services, and not in 500 further prison places.
Advance and our partners, through a coordinated community response, respond to the needs of and improves the outcomes for the most vulnerable and marginalised women and children in our community.