Lochaber Women’s Aid workers take part in ‘16 Days of Action’ event

Lochaber Women’s Aid workers joined members of the Highlands Violence Against Women Partnership, staff from the Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland and workers from a variety of frontline services last week to mark the end of 16 Days of Action Against Gender Based Violence 2019.

The event took place at Dingwall City Chambers, where attendees discussed how to empower survivors of gender-based violence to take part in action to end violence against women and girls.

The event was aimed at highlighting recently published research by Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland looking at the difficulties of tackling violence against women in rural areas. The report, Participating in Equally Safe in the Highlands and Islands, outlines the concerns and recommendations of 188 survivors of violence against women who spoke about isolation, lack of access to services and the difficulties of negative local attitudes.

The report makes 13 recommendations to the Scottish Government and Equally Safe Partners about how to improve women’s access to participating in work to end gender-based violence and attendees at the event support those recommendations.

Lorraine Revitt, Services Manager at Lochaber Women’s Aid, commented: ‘We really welcome the findings of this work to find out how we can assist women and girls affected by abuse and violence to have a voice in shaping service delivery.

‘It is only by listening to and acting on their input that we can ensure we are delivering services that are appropriate for our rural communities.

‘At Lochaber Women’s Aid, we are also particularly keen to expand our work to support early intervention by working more with those in education.’