Lucy Morgan
He continues, “We’ve got to ensure girls don’t get victim blamed. We’ve got to make sure girls don’t feel it’s their fault because of the length of their skirt or the way they behave.”
We also chatted with Ashley James, a women’s rights campaigner, who noted that she didn’t learn about boundaries and red flags until she was in her twenties. “They’re in year six, and they’re putting up red flags. It’s really exciting because to be able to tackle girls, we have to start young and acknowledge that there is a problem.”
She also reflected on being a mother to a young boy and girl. “From the moment my daughter was born, there’s all this rhetoric about protecting or ‘locking up’ your daughters. It’s not up to us to lock girls away. We need to give them tools to understand that they can stand up for themselves. They can say no, they can have boundaries.
Ashley continued, “But I also have to protect my son. I’m terrified that he could go to school and have negative influences around him, and he might start speaking badly about girls, and that would break my heart. My son starts school next year and knowing that he’s coming into school in London and that this toolkit will be available is really reassuring.”
Ashley further praised the toolkit for being aimed at primary-school-aged children, saying it “nips casual sexism in the bud,” adding, “So often casual sexism is a really hard thing to pinpoint because people can’t correlate sexist jokes with the more serious stuff of sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape, and murder.”
She called for the toolkit to be available to schools outside of London. “I would love for the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to look at the amazing work that the mayor of London is doing and to roll it out nationwide because I know that there will be mums, dads and teachers who will be wanting this toolkit in their schools.”
This is the latest initiative from the mayor that takes a “public health” approach to tackling violence against women and girls by focusing on early intervention, prevention, and education.
The mayor previously detailed this approach in an interview with GLAMOUR, describing misogyny as an “infection.” He continued, “We stop the infection from spreading, but ideally, you stop it from occurring in the first place.”
The toolkit was created by the educational program developer Tender, which works with young people to promote healthy relationships, and is funded by the mayor as part of his ongoing £233million investment to tackle violence against women and girls in London.
For more from Glamour UK’s Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.