In achieving White Ribbon accreditation, Securitas joins a community of hundreds of organisations across England and Wales who are committed to helping end Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). White Ribbon is the UK’s leading charity working collaboratively across industries and sectors to engage with men and boys to raise awareness of the issue and encourage changes in attitudes and behaviours.
At Securitas’ our purpose is to “make the world a safer place”, and by partnering with White Ribbon we are signing up to play our part in helping to prevent violence against women and girls in all its forms, including domestic abuse, harassment, sexual and physical violence, coercive control and exploitation.
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It’s a statistical fact that most violent crimes against women and girls are committed by men, so White Ribbon’s mission is to address the long-established masculine attitudes, behaviours and systems that perpetuate this violent behaviour. Working within a male dominated industry – 84% of Securitas employees are men – we have a huge opportunity to make a difference by educating and building awareness of the issues. We want all our people to be the best version of themselves and that means ensuring women feel safe and respected. It also means ensuring men recognise and promote the importance of gender equality, helping them to reflect on and challenge misogynistic attitudes in the workplace, and encouraging them to call out harassing, sexist and violent behaviour when they see it in society at large.
Defining Our Action Plan
As part of the accreditation process, we have created a Steering Group of colleagues across the business who will work with White Ribbon and the Securitas leadership team to develop a three-year action plan to affect positive change throughout the organisation and beyond. All members of the steering group will also be ambassadors for the initiatives that will be put in place.
“Becoming a member of the Steering Group was an easy ‘Yes’ for me,” explains Andy Priestley, Securitas Solutions Sales Manager, “I know women who suffered violence from men in their childhood, and I’ve seen the profound impact it has had on them, and the people close to them. It affects their ability to trust, their self-esteem and their confidence – and that has repercussions at work, in society and in relationships. When working in other organisations I’ve witnessed misogynistic behaviour that has been allowed to go unchecked or just swept under the carpet, so I’m really pleased to see that Securitas is so determined to help raise awareness and change attitudes. And it's important to emphasise that in standing up for women’s safety, we aren’t diminishing support for men, we’re just elevating support for the women and girls who really need it.”
White Ribbon accreditation is just the first step, the next key milestone will be the publication of our Action Plan – look out for more news on this in 2024.
