The Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt, has unveiled the Welsh Government’s new Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) Strategy highlighting the six key aims the Government will set to help end the abhorrent abuse women face.

But are these the best aims for ‘wanting to make Wales the safest place for women to live fear free’ as they so frequently claim?

Since setting up its flagship VAWDASV Act (Wales) 2015 and subsequent Strategy, these Aims have stayed a constant since its inception. I believe these Aims are most probably the right ones. A broad sweep, capturing the many aspects needed to make a wholesale change. I welcome such a confident statement and ambitious forward-thinking plan that understands the complexities of the impact of VAWDASV and the multitude of ways we need to approach it for any interventions to be appropriate and workable. I applaud the call out for it to be a Wales-wide approach with everyone accountable, and everyone able to make a change, however big or small. They all count.

However, I am sceptical about HOW these aims will be enacted. Talk is cheap. Women’s lives are cheap. A lot of good work has been done in Wales, but VAWDASV is still endemic. Men and boys still have deplorable attitudes towards women and girls and more importantly, women and girls are still being hurt.

Two new initiatives announced were 1) the setting up of a National Partnership Board which has already met and which in the consultation I supported. It has been described as ‘Ministerial led’, however, so I would like reassurances that women’s groups have a seat at the table ensuring a variety of voices, and 2) the launch of a campaign to tackle street harassment and develop a common approach for police and other agencies to ensure current legislation is used effectively. This is something that girls and young women, in particular, are impacted by and has to include work in schools and equality lessons.

I eagerly await the details.

Ali Morris, FiLiA VAWG Lead Wales