PARTNERS from across Essex will be developing a range of initiatives to address women’s safety across the county in key areas such as town centres and on public transport.

On the day when the murderer of Sarah Everard was sentenced to whole life imprisonment at the Old Bailey, the online Women’s Safety Partnership conference, organised through Essex Partners and the County Council’s Safety Advisory Group, shared the latest survey data and insight highlighting the circumstances such as locations and behaviours which contribute to women feeling threatened and unsafe.

The conference, which included Essex Police, local women’s groups, support organisations, representatives from the media and residents, discussed how to:

work with men to understand the impact of inappropriate behaviour towards women and supporting changes in behaviour where necessary
make public spaces safer and ensuring they feel safe
improve the safety of the night-time economy
ensure public transport is safe and feels safe, and;
challenge stereotypes and negative attitudes and language towards women.
Ideas from the workshops within the conference, covering transport, support for parents, role modelling initiatives and more will now be taken away for development and will be shared with the cross-party reference group, which will discuss and review proposals, as part of the decision process on how to allocate the £500,000 contribution from Essex County Council to improve safety for women.

Cllr Louise McKinlay, ECC’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community, Equality, Partnerships and Performance, said: “Today was an important step towards the aim of improving the safety of women.

“Through our work to date and this conference, we wanted to spark a conversation about public safety at a county level that leads to real, tangible action and change.

“We have worked hard over the past few months to gather data and insight about the real experiences of residents from across Essex. Thanks to the contributions from attendees at today’s conference, we will now begin to turn ideas into action. It won’t come about overnight, but we know we must make a difference – the significance of today’s sentencing for the murder of Sarah Everard will not have been lost on anyone who has contributed and I am grateful to all involved.”

Details of plans will come forward by the end the year when decisions on a programme of initiatives and work will be agreed and launched.