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DIRECTOR: albertine rae Producer: daniel gould Project manager: LUCY WHITE
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T
he conversation around how to combat domestic abuse grows increasingly critical. Earlier this year, the National Police Chiefs’ Council declared violence against women and girls (VAWG) a national emergency, after analysis revealed an estimated two million women a year are victims of male violence.
What’s more, this is a global issue: new data from the World Health Organisation shows that one in three women worldwide has been subjected to either physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. They’re shocking statistics, which is why so many companies, NGOs and governments are united in their commitment to support and educate younger generations about the issue.
Power Summit: why education and allyship is key to ending violence against women and girls
‘One in three women experience violence by a partner in their lifetime.’
- juleah love
- Alice liveing
‘For a long time, I didn’t recognise that what I was experiencing was abuse.’
Laura
With one in three women experiencing violence worldwide, organisations and campaigners are uniting to fight for a safer, misogyny-free future. Here, we speak to three advocates leading the charge for positive change.
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One initiative that has been powerful in raising awareness is YSL Beauty’s ‘Abuse is Not Love’ – one of L’Oréal Groupe’s flagship global social cause partnerships. The partnership with leading domestic violence charity Women’s Aid in the UK, is designed to raise awareness of intimate partner violence and behavioural red flags, helping women recognise, prevent and mitigate signs of an abusive relationship. At its heart is the importance of educating younger women, given that the Office for National Statistics reports one in four women (27%) will experience domestic abuse from the age of 16 - with women aged 16-24 most at risk.
This important issue was the topic of the latest Marie Claire Power Summit, which took place in the run-up to the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism, a worldwide initiative raising awareness of gender-based violence. Marie Claire’s Editor-in-Chief Andrea Thompson chaired a discussion with YSL Beauty’s Global Head of Brand Corporate Engagement, Juleah Love, bestselling author, Women’s Aid Ambassador and survivor, Alice Liveing, and psychologist and gender equity expert, Lee Chambers.
“One in three women will experience violence by a partner in their lifetime – that’s the reported figure – but we know that it’s probably much higher than that,” Juleah Love explains, highlighting the stark reality women face when it comes to intimate partner violence (IVP). “That’s why it’s so important we continue to raise awareness of domestic abuse. The more we help destigmatise and raise awareness of the topic, the better role we can all play in supporting women's and girls’ safety. It’s one of the leading preventable causes of death of young women worldwide, which is so shocking.”
So, how do we break the cycle and create a safer world for women and girls? This is what our panel had to say about the critical role education and allyship play in the fight against domestic abuse – and how we can all take action.
Education on early warning signs plays a vital role, Alice Liveing explains: “There is a rise in cases of women between the ages of 13 and 18, and we know that this is a crucial age where we can try to help girls and women understand what constitutes a healthy relationship. It’s talking about things like gaslighting, coercive control – all those first signs of abuse.”
In recent reporting on the issue, the vocabulary around abusive behaviours has also widened, with terms like ‘narcissism’, ‘stonewalling’ and ‘love bombing’ added to the lexicon of domestic violence, Alice adds. This new vocabulary signals a step forward in identifying and labelling abusive behaviours, too, by giving us all a way to talk about them and their impact.
When it comes to raising awareness, YSL Beauty’s ‘Abuse is Not Love’ campaign aims to educate two million people worldwide by 2030, informing them on the warning signs of abuse. The campaign spotlights lesser-known methods of abuse, such as targeted ignoring or humiliation. Love explains: “We wanted [the campaign] to be accessible and to put words on things that are sometimes difficult to understand.”
Indeed, emotional abuse can be challenging to identify, as Liveing can affirm: “For a long time, I didn’t recognise that what I was experiencing was abuse.” For her, behaviours like ‘love bombing’ – where a new partner is showered with praise, attention and affection in the initial stages of a relationship – and jealousy were misconstrued as acts of love. She says: “I think a lot of young women who haven’t had much experience of relationships will feel the same thing.”
- LEE CHAMBERS
‘Men and boys have the ability to be part of dismantling that pyramid of abuse.’
Laura
There’s also a focus on educating young men, spearheaded by advocates for male allyship, including Lee Chambers. “Engaging men and boys in inclusion is vitally important for accelerating gender equity and dismantling some of the systemic problems that we have as a society,” he says. “Men and boys have the ability to be part of dismantling that pyramid of abuse.”
The rise of social media and online forums has created echo chambers of damaging rhetoric, continues Chambers. “Violence is being normalised… [along with a sense of] “entitlement over women’s autonomy. Young boys haven’t had the life experience to understand how damaging that can be.” That’s why including men in the conversation around gender equity is integral for positive change. Chambers continued to say that when young boys engage in inclusion, it also gives them the “opportunity to widen their own perspectives” and to “move beyond the gender norms that trap them”.
Part of the problem for young men is that they’re often being presented with ‘role models’ who offer a warped perspective on masculinity. Part of Chamber’s work in schools, therefore, is to redefine masculinity through a positive lens. “We’re trying to equip [young men and boys] with the skills of allyship,” he explains. “And one of those skills is how to be an upstander in situations. We focus on how there's an element of bravery to that.”
Of course, a positive bystander is something we should all strive to be, but safety concerns can sometimes prevent people from stepping in. “Being a bystander is incredibly important,” Love says. “But it can also be very dangerous. So you need to know how to be a bystander – whether it’s in a public setting or more of a private scenario – and the different types of violence you might be witnessing or seeing.”
- JULEAH LOVE
‘You need to know how to be a bystander, whether it's in a public setting, whether it's more of a private scenario and the different type of violence you might be witnessing.’
L’Oréal Paris’ ‘Stand Up Against Street Harassment’ initiative partners with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in the UK and focuses on educating people on how to intervene safely - with positive steps if they witness street harassment. The programme was launched in 2020 in partnership Right To Be, a global leader in the movement to end harassment and offers online and in-person workshops on Right To Be’s ‘5 Ds’ process – distract, delegate, document, direct, delay (you can access the training here).
Of course, eradicating VAWG is a collective effort: we all have to play our part. L’Oréal Groupe was the first company to join the One in Three Women network, the first European network of companies committed to fighting violence against women. “Our YSL Beauty partnership with Women’s Aid UK is grounded in education and training on this issue. In my view, supporting women is not only the right thing to do, but I also firmly believe that keeping women safe and healthy will help us towards a fairer and more inclusive future, not only in the context of the UN 16 Days of Activism,” Love explains. “Being able to work on fighting against violence against women, work on helping to move the whole agenda for women's rights forward is so powerful.” Despite the bleak statistics surrounding VAWG, we’re starting to see indicators of positive change. “There has been a huge re-education amongst police forces,” Liveing offers, adding that when survivors join the beauty industry it helps drive education and enables the sector to understand the nuances of domestic abuse.
Chambers also notes the positive change in male education in schools: “What's really powerful is the work we’ve been doing with boys in secondary schools. As they get older, they’re becoming peer mentors to the younger boys and delivering a message [in a way] that’s a lot more effective than an adult talking to them.”
For those who are currently experiencing domestic abuse, Liveing reiterates that it’s important to know you’re not alone: “Women can feel quite helpless when they’re in these situations. But know that there are charities like Women’s Aid and wonderful initiatives from L’Oréal Groupe that are supporting women. Help is out there.”
