Women's Night Safety Charter
The Women's Night Safety Charter (the Charter') is an established pan London initiative, originally launched in 2018 by the Night Czar, Amy Lamé. The Charter is part of the Mayor's Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and London's commitment to the UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces global initiative. A range of organisations have signed up to the Charter since it was launched, with signatories agreeing to work towards and implement a number of pledges as follows:
- Nominate a champion in your organisation who actively promotes women’s night safety
- Demonstrate to staff and customers that your organisation takes women’s safety at night seriously, for example through a communications campaign
- Remind customers and staff that London is safe, but tell them what to do if they experience harassment when working, going out or travelling
- Encourage reporting by victims and bystanders as part of your communications campaign Train staff to ensure that all women who report are believed
- Train staff to ensure that all reports are recorded and responded to
- Design your public spaces and work places to make them safer for women at night
What does it mean to sign the Charter?
- The Women’s Night Safety Charter is a voluntary pledge to show you take women’s safety seriously.
- By signing the Charter, you show your acknowledgement of the issue and that you’re ready to get proactive in improving women’s safety and experience. We’re building a strong network dedicated to making a positive change to women’s experiences across London at nigh
- Whatever your organisation does for London at night, there will be something you can do to better support women’s safety.
- Newham Council has already signed the pledge to ensure London is a city where all women feel confident and welcome at night.
- To support the Women's Night Safety Charter, we ask all organisations that operate at night to sign-up to our seven commitments.
Why should you sign the Charter?
- If women and girls feel safe at your venue and are able to report harassment and request assistance, they will visit more frequently.
- No one wants sexual harassment, intimidation, or violence at their establishment. Signing up will discourage potential perpetrators and prevent these behaviours from occurring at your venue or premises.
- By empowering your staff to take a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment and violence it will help to challenge problematic attitudes towards women and encourage your patrons to think about their behaviour.
How do you sign up?
To sign up to the Women’s Night Safety Charter visit: Women's Night Safety Charter | London City Hall
All signatories to the charter now have access to an online portal for information and support to other campaigns, resources and best practice as well as the interactive toolkit that sits alongside the charter. As a signatory you can register for the portal here: https://wnsc.tillr.io
Email Jay.Ali@newham.gov.uk and Sarah.walker@saferbusiness.org.uk for more information and we will record your contact details to share information on updates.
