The invisibility of girls and young women affected by serious violence and exploitation needs to end
Geethika Jayatilaka
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
In public, media and political dialogue, serious violence is often solely framed around knife crime and street violence between predominantly young men. This framing excludes affected girls and young women and leaves thousands of them seriously impacted by violence and criminal or sexual exploitation, and that risk is growing.
As the Commission on Young Lives publishes its report ‘Keeping Girls and Young Women Safe’ they specifically highlight these risks. We welcome their urgent call for action to “recognise the threats and risks facing girls and break the conspiracy of silence that has left too many vulnerable young women without the access to support that can protect them from exploitation, harm and encourage them to meet their aspirations.”
At Redthread we know that for many girls and young women, serious violence is more likely to happen at home or someone else’s home. It is distinct from the street violence more commonly associated with knife crime. While we have seen an increase of young women being harmed in these communities or public spaces, the numbers are still low in comparison to young men.
Of the girls and young women we worked with at Redthread between 2022/23, 34 per cent of them came into hospital because of assault without a weapon whereas, 40 per cent of boys and young men we worked with came in because of assault with a weapon. This is why just viewing serious violence through the lens of knife crime really doesn't tell the whole story.
These statistics demonstrate the nuances of the tragic effects of violence and exploitation on both young men and women. They also alert us to the fact that specialist support is urgently needed to identify where girls and young women may be victims of exploitation and grooming. They also tell us that we need to be much smarter in supporting affected young girls and women who are extremely vulnerable and in need of both crisis and long term tailored support.
At Redthread, over a third of the children and young people that are referred to us are girls and young women. Our Young Women’s Service provides one of the very few tailored services that are suitable for the complexities of issues that violence affected girls and young women face. We work with them when they come into hospital as a result of serious violence or exploitation, or if they are at risk of this happening, providing bespoke support as soon as they need it.
We connect with and build rapport to support young women through their journey in hospital and into the community for up to a year. Our position in the hospital provides a unique opportunity to support these young women and refer them to a range of other specialist services. We also train NHS professionals to spot the signs and ask the right questions so they get the support they need, rather than sending them home, and back to the extremely unsafe situations they are living through.
The Commission of Young Lives report specifically notes that our model is one to replicate if we are to effectively support and prevent girls and young women from falling through the cracks in the system. In the last few years, we have seen large increases in girls and young women being referred to us, and so we need a society wide focus on getting them the support they so desperately need, so they don't continue going unnoticed and missed.
We need to step out of the over simplistic understanding of serious violence, and create services to meet the needs of the thousands of girls and young women impacted by, and at risk of serious violence and criminal or sexual exploitation. Without this we will continue to fail them, because we are neither seeing them or acting to meet their needs.
Geethika Jayatilaka is chief executive of Redthread
