Frome Town Council are hosting a forum on International Women’s Day (IWD), on Saturday 8th March from 10am to 12.30pm at Frome Football Club. Entitled ‘Accelerate Action: a safer future for women and girls in Frome’, the event will bring all interested parties together to explore ideas to combat male violence against women and girls and generate tangible actions for the community.
The forum aligns with the International Women’s Day theme in 2025, ‘Accelerate Action’.
Cllr Fiona Barrows, who is facilitating the discussion, said: “This International Women’s Day, let’s get together to explore how we can tackle violence against women and girls—and the cultural influences that perpetuate it. Join us on 8th March to explore what is already working well, share ideas and information and come up with a set of actions that we can take, here in Frome, to make women and girls safe in our town. Male violence against women is rooted in misogyny and gender stereotyping, and sadly it’s a serious and growing problem: 20% of crime recorded by the police in 2022-23 was violence against women and girls, by men. It isn’t the only problem facing society, but it is a problem and it’s the important problem that this event will take on. The current government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade, which is an ambitious target even before you consider how much of it goes unreported.”
“What can we do, here in Frome, to tackle the issue of male violence against women and girls? We’re a small town; this isn’t about reinventing the wheel, but we’ve got so many great people, groups and minds here. How can we support the majority of good men and boys to play their part as allies? How could Frome feel like a safer place at night and what could local businesses do to help? What is already happening that we can celebrate and build on? Let’s come together, work together and explore what we can do this International Women’s Day; generate tangible, practical, local actions for positive change.”
The IWD community action forum takes place on Saturday 8th March at the clubhouse at Badgers Hill Stadium. It starts at 10am for coffee and cake, followed by the discussion 10.30am to 12.30pm. Free tickets can be booked in advance at bit.ly/safer-future-iwd25.
