North Wales Police are showing progress in gender equality as they support a United Nations led movement.

This week, UK police launched their third annual Gender Equality in UK Policing Report, in support of the United Nations’ gender equality initiative, HeForShe.

HeForShe is a movement that seeks to engage men and people of all genders to join women to work together to achieve true gender equality.

The UK’s police forces have all made commitments to improve gender imbalances at senior levels within policing, and to continue to work to combat domestic abuse and sexual abuse in society.

North Wales have introduced a successful reverse mentoring scheme which sees colleagues from under-represented areas paired up with senior managers to provide lived experiences and a different perspective, opening up conversations and highlighting barriers and issues.

North Wales Police Chief Constable Carl Foulkes is HeForShe Policing UK Lead. He said: “The last year has seen an unprecedented impact on policing due to Covid-19 and whilst we are in a much improved position, the pandemic still continues.

"The last year also saw the tragic murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer which brought conversations to the forefront around the police response to violence against women and girls (VAWG). HeForShe creates a clear link between gender inequalities and gender-based violence and the work being undertaken by forces to eliminate this will continue.

"The National Police Chiefs’ Council is clear that tackling VAWG is an absolute priority for policing and recognises that whilst there is lots of work ongoing, there is still a significant amount of work to be done to ensure confidence in policing and that women are safe in our communities. Not all of this is the responsibility of policing, but we do play a pivotal role in preventing harm and bringing perpetrators to justice, influencing what society is prepared to allow as being acceptable behaviour.

“I look forward to the year ahead, where the United Nations are moving to their second phase of HeForShe, allowing UK policing to reconfirm their commitment and set objectives for the next five years. Now, more than ever we need to continue the momentum and accelerate change towards gender equality.”

For more information visit: https://www.heforshe.org/en