Louise McKinlay has posted there:

We all have a responsibility to bring about change – Essex County Council Leader and Cabinet’s Blog

We all have a responsibility to bring about change

Posted by:leaderandcabinet, Posted on:25 March 2022 – Categories:Deputy Leader blog

Getting important and sensitive messages to residents, in a relatable way is a real hard task. We must make sure that what we are saying is engaging, yet sensitive and relatable, particularly when it comes to subjects that may have negatively impacted individuals in some way.

While scrolling on my social media recently, I came across two videos, one by the Home Office and one by the Mayor of London that were a breath of fresh air and achieve this balance perfectly. They also address key priority areas of work, women’s safety and violence against women and girls.

The first video, created by the Home Office, is the central focus of their ‘Enough’ Campaign which aims to tackle violence against Women & Girls. It uses different scenarios to show what many women sadly experience, including harassment, coercive control and sexual assault. It also shows people stepping in to challenge perpetrators or support victims.

The second video I wanted to share is  ‘Have a Word’ by the Mayor of London’s office, which also encourages people to step in and challenge inappropriate behaviour.

I have said on many occasions that there is no quick fix on women’s safety issues and that a cultural shift is needed, these videos capture this perfectly. Often, the responsibility of keeping safe has been placed on the shoulders of women and girls, which is unacceptable. We must all demand change by saying enough is enough.

I’m really pleased that our government has made these videos, and I hope that they will start a national conversation about the role we can all play in bringing about positive change.

We as a county council are committed to making Essex safer for women, and helping them feel safer too.

In December I announced a number of initiatives we would be launching to achieve this. This includes a bystander intervention programme which we hope to launch soon.

I will share more about these initiatives soon, in the meantime please take the time to watch the videos and share too.

While people should step in when a woman is being harrassed or attacked, most acts against women occur behind closed doors.

Almost all women have been subjected to harrassment, whether it’s something sexual as we walk by, or unwarranted physical attention.

Most attacks against women are behind closed doors, which is where we are actually most unsafe.

That aside, I was annoyed by Cllr McKinlay’s protestations that we all share the responsibility to keep women safe. I fully agree, we all do. However, Cllr McKinlay is in the best position to do so, yet she refused to keep my children and myself safe. I wrote the following comment, which is awaiting moderation, it is unlikely to get published because ECC have an aversion to the truth, so here is my comment.

What about Cllr Mckinlay’s responsibility to bring about change? She is in a position to bring about change yet refuses to use that position to ensure the residents of Essex are safe.Cllr McKinlay is more than happy that my child attempted suicide as when the local authority refused to investigate and I reached out to her for help she told a barefaced lie and threatened me with legal action.Doesn’t care about a child’s safety but Is practising vanity politics to pretend she cares about anyone else in Essex other than herself.She was also happy that coercive and controlling behaviour was used against a vulnerable woman.This blog post would be better coming from someone with an ounce of integrity.

How can someone say they care when there is evidence they don’t?