Sexual harassment is a daily occurrence for many girls: Tender joins Evening Standard Show Respect campaign

Tender has been selected by London Evening Standard to take part in its new ‘Show Respect’ campaign.

The campaign will fund Tender workshops in five London boroughs where domestic abuse is most prevalent, empowering 600 young people with healthy relationships skills and understanding.

Tender is one of several charities and community interest companies receiving funding from the campaign which seeks to help tackle violence against women and girls.

The campaign was based on research by Jon Yates, Head of the Youth Endowment Fund, which found that healthy relationships workshops were one intervention shown to significantly reduce violence against girls.

To launch the campaign, the Evening Standard David Cohen visited St Mary Magdalene Church of England school in Greenwich to observe and report on a mixed gender workshop with 13 year nine pupils.

Tender Workshop Leader, Shauna O’Briain explained Tender’s approach:

‘A video went viral this year that said, ‘if a girl comes to my house and I paid for the Uber and for the food and she don’t put out, I’m locking the doors’. A pupil brought it to our workshop and we unpacked it and where the young people got was to call it out as rape. Our sessions use scripts and real-life examples to help young people come to their own understandings — and to educate each other.’

Susie McDonald, CEO of Tender, said:

‘Every year on international women’s day, Labour MP Jess Phillips gets up in parliament and reads the list of women murdered that year. Prevention is a less dramatic story to tell but it is the most effective. Every domestic homicide costs the state about £1 million, whereas a structured programme of intervention like ours costs around £40 per child.

‘This Evening Standard campaign is not only incredibly timely but it is the most efficient way of equipping teenagers to understand healthy relationships and become articulate and confident ambassadors, spreading the word among their peers.’

Read the full article including an exclusive video feature at the London Evening Standard website.