{"id":176,"date":"2013-05-01T22:23:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T21:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/middlesbrough\/?p=176"},"modified":"2013-09-01T01:45:30","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T00:45:30","slug":"violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-everything-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/middlesbrough\/2013\/05\/01\/violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-everything-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) – Everything You Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 27th April 2013<\/strong>, SI Middlesbrough hosted a conference for a morning on \u201cViolence against Women and Girls \u2013 Everything you should know\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speakers included Becky Rogerson<\/strong> for My Sister\u2019s Place<\/strong> (a specialist domestic violence service based locally) who offered an alarming range of statistics: one in four of women suffer from domestic violence in their lifetime. Peter Widlinski<\/strong> from North Eastern Refugee Service<\/strong> aired some of the issues around trafficking in our region and the work of Barnardo\u2019s. Our own SI member Margaret Clark reported on her role as an SIGBI delegate to the United Nations CSW57 Conference on V<\/strong>iolence A<\/strong>gainst W<\/strong>omen and G<\/strong>irls (VAWG<\/strong>) in New York, March 2013 urging everyone to stop the violence and \u2018ACT NOW- the time is right\u2019; also, SI Middlesbrough\u2019s Susan Mansaray<\/strong> spoke movingly with a colleague, Eniola Jaiyeoba<\/strong>, on and against FGM.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosy Burgess<\/strong> spoke up for the W<\/strong>orld A<\/strong>ssociation of G<\/strong>irl G<\/strong>uides and G<\/strong>irl S<\/strong>couts (WAGGGS<\/strong>) on teen dating and gender prejudices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Vera Baird<\/strong>, a barrister, an author and recently appointed P<\/strong>olice and C<\/strong>rime C<\/strong>ommissioner (PCC<\/strong>) for Northumberland, detailed her role for people in the community and reassured us that neighbouring PCCs would be consulting each other and making concerted efforts to improve their service to the people in a joined-up collaborative way in the North East region.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conference was attended by guests from as far as Harrogate<\/strong>, Darlington<\/strong> and surrounding areas. Some feedback:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe conference was excellent, the speakers were superb and we met some lovely people. So, well done SI Middlesbrough for organising the event, and thank you for extending the invitation to Harrogate members.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was enthralled by what you had to say about New York. Looking forward to hearing some more, especially what you think the Agreed Conclusions mean for future Soroptimist work.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe morning was very enjoyable and generated potential members. It makes me feel proud to be a Soroptimist, when such careful planning and hard work reaps such satisfactory results<\/em>\u201d said SI Middlesbrough\u2019s Annabel Young<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n