Last week Andrew joined colleagues in a Westminster Hall debate on the role of men in preventing violence against women.
Andrew sponsored the motion for debate, which heard from MPs across the country discussing the impact of violence against women and ways in which more can be done to prevent this
Andrew, who is an ambassador for the charity White Ribbon that works with men to prevent violence against women, says, “I welcomed the opportunity to further highlight the need to tackle violence against women and to discuss current efforts on this.
“We know that it is not the case that all women are victims, or that all men are perpetrators, but it is a fact that the majority of people who suffer domestic violence are women, and the campaign seeks to address one particular element of that - the role that men can play in tackling violence against women.
“As a former teacher I’m very aware of the need for early intervention, especially with boys, as unfortunately many of the views about women and girls are entrenched at an early age. It is important to have positive role models and charities like White Ribbon do an excellent job in working with communities, often in challenging situations, and signing up ambassadors for the campaign.
“We have worked hard on this issue locally and I was delighted, following my request, that the leader of North Lincolnshire Council, Baroness Redfern, signed the council up as a White Ribbon Council and Scunthorpe as a White Ribbon Town. We have worked with community and sporting groups, including Scunthorpe United, and have an excellent partnership locally to champion engagement on this issue.
“We will never tackle this problem from the top down though and in order to do so, we need to tackle the causes of violence and work from the bottom up. That means men taking a stand and making it absolutely clear that we will not remain silent whenever there is domestic abuse or violence perpetrated against women, or tolerate it.
“Those of us who are not involved, and never will be involved, in domestic violence have a responsibility to make it absolutely clear to those of our gender who are involved that we will not stay silent if they engage in that sort of behaviour and I hope that men will join me in this campaign.”
You can read Andrew’s contributions to the debate here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2016-02-04a.465.0&s=speaker%3A24832#g471.1
You can learn more about White Ribbon here: http://www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk/
