Calling out violence against women and girls in 2021

Last week was literally a rollercoaster of emotions for us all at ICENA.

As an organisation proud to support and work with female-led organisations, we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating women’s achievements on International Women’s Day. Yet, less than 24 hours later, we witnessed Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, being taken down by the press and on social media for her experiences of racism and the dismissal of her own mental health issues.

Then if that wasn’t enough, by Thursday, Sarah Everard was reported murdered. The perpetrator, a man. A man who had exposed himself three days before Sarah went missing and nothing had been done.

Sadly, for women, this is normal. Women are not believed, they are blamed.

Here are some painful stats;

• 97% of women aged 18-24 said they had been sexually harassed in public spaces*
• 80% of women of all ages said they had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces*

*stats taken from The Guardian and  UN Women UK

• 20% of women and 4% of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16, equivalent to 3.4 million female and 631,000 male victims*
• 3.1% of women (510,000) and 0.8% of men (138,000) aged 16 to 59 had experienced a sexual assault in the last year *

*stats from Rape Crisis England and Wales

• 118 women and girls killed in the UK in the last 12 months*

*taken from British MP Jess Phillip’s speech on International Women’s Day 2021

ICENA stands with all women when we say that change needs to happen now. We created ICENA to EDUCATE others about sexual harassment, sexual violence and consent. With an aim to empower individuals and create social change. We use our profits to sustain critical services for people in the UK who need support after sexual assault.

We cannot let last week go un-noticed, we need to do something. Therefore, we are offering up to 50% off our training until June 2021.

Let’s create change together.

Let us support you and in return, you’ll be supporting our work.