The government allocated a £20 million package to schools in England, as part of their long-awaited strategy to constrain the rate of violence against women and girls (VAWG). High-risk pupils will attend behavioural courses. Teachers will be better prepared to challenge unhealthy myths about women and relationships. By addressing these issues at a young age, the government has ambitiously aimed to halve VAWG within the next decade.
One in eight women faces domestic abuse, sexual assault or violence, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Earlier this month, the Secretary of State Shabana Mahmood referred to VAWG as a “national emergency”. Safeguarding minister Jess Philips echoed this same sentiment on Thursday, saying that Britain is facing an “epidemic” of female violence.
But, she added, “I’ve never felt more confident we can rise to it than I do today. Change is coming.”
What does this ‘change’ involve?
The plan centres around three pillars: preventing the radicalisation of young men, punishing abusers, and getting justice for victims. The first pillar of ‘changing the attitudes of young boys’ has received special attention from the media.
Philips told MPs that the new measures will use the full powers of the state to change males’ attitudes, instead of just relying on police and courts. These traditional systems have faced pressing scrutiny over the last month for their lack of specialist methods in dealing with rape and sexual offence cases.
The government has expressed its optimism that tackling misogyny in the early stages of the boys’ development will reduce VAWG in future years.
The strategy outlines several ways to do this, including a £3 million investment in a “teacher training fund” over the next two years. Teachers will receive training on how to identify positive role models from a young age. Schools will work closely with specialist organisations to identify high-risk students, who will then receive extra support.
Another £5 million pilot programme will deliver “healthy relationship training” to secondary school students. This will also include a new helpline, where teenagers can reach out with concerns about abuse in their own relationships. This is especially pertinent as half of teens in relationships suffer violence or controlling behaviour, according to the Youth Endowment Fund.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Investing in our teachers and ensuring they can respond to the realities children face today is so vital to renewing our communities, and protecting young women.”
Celebrities showing support for the new policy
Reality television star Georgia Harrison MBE celebrated the new policy, witnessed next to Philips as she launched the scheme.
Georgia appeared on season three of ITV’s Love Island in 2017 and The Only Way is Essex in 2014. This year, Georgia fronted a two-part series called Georgia Harrison: Porn, Power and Profit, after her ex-boyfriend published a video without her consent, which showed her engaging in explicit sexual relations.
Since her reality television days, she has dedicated years to raising awareness about revenge porn and challenging the stringency of cyber privacy laws in the UK.
In October, Prince William appointed her as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her persistent campaigns to increase support for women and girls who have faced sexual crimes.
Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman also attended the launch. She is known to have strong affiliations with the charity Refuge, the UK’s largest specialist domestic abuse organisation. The support of these two public figures – both of whom have adopted a firm criticism of VAWG as part of their identities for several years – speaks well of the new policy.
“Too little, too late”: some politicians see the strategy as underwhelming
But others have raised concerns about the estimated effectiveness of the new policy.
Responding to the announcement, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said the commitments did “not go far enough”.
She said that whilst the strategy recognises the scale of the challenge, the level of investment “falls seriously short”.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp raised a similar concern back in early December, even before the specific details of the policy were stipulated.
He said the announcement was “too little, too late”. Speaking to Laura Kuennsberg, he said it was beyond “disappointing” that it had taken the government a year and a half to finally produce its strategy.
This new policy comes after months of build-up and promises of a clear proposal about how to reduce VAWG.
More pragmatic concerns centre on cost — specifically the use of taxpayers’ money. The BBC estimates that “the taxpayer will foot £16m of the bill, while the government is working with partners to raise the remaining £4m.”
To make this investment profitable, there must be a sizeable payoff. And whilst Labour’s goal to halve VAWG looks achievable for some, others are less convinced that they’re going about this the right way.
What’s new about this policy?
On BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Phillips was questioned on how the policy would reduce VAWG, given that it offered no new way of embedding anti-misogyny teaching. Critics suggested there were more direct ways to reduce violence and deter offenders.
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance states that secondary school pupils are already educated on the importance of consent. Specifically, educators must make them aware that sharing and possessing indecent images of children under the age of consent is a criminal offence.
Philips responded that the new guidance, to be rolled out in September 2027, would supplement these existing structures. She said pupils would be “equipped to recognise misogyny”, understand its links to VAWG, and learn to challenge it. She also explained that currently, teachers have nowhere “specialist or targeted” to send pupils exhibiting signs of sexually harmful behaviour. The new policy is set to change this.
On a separate occasion, Philips also told MPs that parents would also benefit from this strategy. They will receive practical guidance on how to “spot warning signs of misogyny and act on them”.
Concerns that the policy distracts from the real perpetrators by scapegoating young boys
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was quick to express her disappointment with the policy on X.
“[P]revention that starts by collectively blaming boys is not prevention at all – it is laziness.”
“We need to crack down on immigration from cultures that don’t respect women and deport foreign criminals as soon as they commit crimes. No ifs, no buts.”
She accepted that VAWG is serious but called for “more police on our streets” and repeated her pledge to recruit 10,000 officers.
She continued: “Enforcing the laws we already have, rather than endlessly announcing new ‘strategies’. More prison places and proper sentences so punishment is real, not theoretical. That is how you protect women and girls.”
And it wasn’t just politicians chipping in with suggestions.
J.K. Rowling saw this as an opportunity to remind people of the UK Supreme Court’s ruling. In April, the Court ruled that a woman is legally defined by biological sex, not gender identity. Rowling said it was hypocritical for MPs to criticise the ruling while backing the new anti-VAWG policy.
Violence Against Women and Girls is a serious and ever-present issue in the UK. The statistics are frightening to read, and the survivors’ stories even more so. It is saddeningly easy for local constituencies to look at the escalating situation with a sense of hopelessness.
Announcing the policy in the Commons, Phillips said it would use “the full force of the state” across government. Particularly amidst the rise in prolificacy of openly misogynistic male influencers such as Andrew Tate, the government must deal with the epidemic urgently.
