Join Frome Town Council for ‘Accelerate Action: A safer future for women and girls in Frome’ on International Women’s Day, Saturday 8th March from 10am to 12.30pm at Frome Football Club.
The event aims to bring together voices from across Frome to discuss violence against women and girls, encourage sharing of information about what is already in place, and come up with a set of actions to effect positive change in Frome. The discussion will cover four main themes, plus an ‘open table’ for anything else that emerges from the discussion:
- Women’s safety at night – how can we make women feel safe enjoying Frome after dark?
- Education and youth – How can we tackle misogyny among young people and educate boys effectively?
- Male allyship and bystander action – How can men actively support action against VAWG?
- Domestic violence – how can we help women affected by domestic abuse, change the mindset and culture that enables it and improve conviction rates?
Cllr Carla Collonette said ‘Violence against women and girls takes many forms and represents a sobering 20% of crime reported to police in 2023/24. We’re pleased to have a representative of Somerset Domestic Abuse Service with us for the forum, as well as Inspector Rachel Clark of Avon and Somerset Police, and we hope to have people from many statutory and voluntary organisations already working in the area to share their knowledge.”
Cllr Anne Hills said ‘Violence against women and girls is everyone’s problem. Men and boys have a huge positive role to play in calling out poor behaviour when they see it, refusing to accept the stereotypes that allow misogyny to take hold, being the change the vast majority wants to see. We want to have men’s voices in the room too, to contribute to what will be a constructive, positive and proactive discussion – please sign up to join us on 8th March.’
Cllr Tracey Ashford said ‘Come to the forum to learn about what services are doing great work in this area, so you can share it and raise awareness. Come with an idea of how to make Frome feel safer at night for women and girls, or to share a story of when you’ve seen positive change happen or witnessed an individual making a positive difference, however small. The point is action, in line with the IWD theme for 2025 ‘Accelerate Action’. Let’s set the ball rolling on actions, large and small, to make women and girls in Frome safer.’
Cllr Fiona Barrows said ‘We’ve chosen some broad themes for the facilitated discussions on 8th March, but there will absolutely be space to bring up other topics if you have thoughts to share. The fact that there’s so much great work going on in this area is fantastic; it’s also a reflection of the seriousness of the problem. Simply by coming together and networking, and sharing information about that great work, we make women and girls safer. Let’s build on it with some concrete actions for the community to take forward this International Women’s Day.’
The community action forum takes place on Saturday 8th March from 10am to 12.30pm at Frome Football Club. Booking is encouraged to assist with event and refreshments planning at https://bit.ly/safer-future-iwd25.
