The UN has today published the official report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women in the United Kingdom, examining the causes and consequences of such violence and assessing the Government’s approach to tackling it. The report, which highlights a general lack of consistency and coherence in the Government’s response to violence against women and girls, is particularly critical of the current state of sex and relationships education (SRE) in English schools, and recommends that it be made compulsory. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the report and its recommendations, and has reiterated its calls for full and comprehensive SRE to be taught in all schools.
In her report, the Special Rapporteur Rashida Manjoo states that ‘shortcomings remain in ensuring the promotion of gender equality and challenging harmful attitudes and behaviours, including among children and teenagers, especially at schools’. She specifically references the 2013 report by Ofsted into English schools which found a lack of high-quality, age-appropriate SRE in more than a third of the schools inspected in England and is explicit in bemoaning the lack of compulsory personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), including SRE. Criticising the fact that discussion of sexual and emotional feelings, as well as issues such as sexual abuse, homosexuality and pornography, are often avoided in the classroom, the Rapporteur stated that children needed to be taught how to describe unwanted sexual behaviour and where to go for help.
Going on to direct specific recommendations at the UK, Manjoo calls on the Government to ‘ensure a holistic approach to prevention of violence against women and girls by including appropriate and comprehensive sex and relationship education in schools as a compulsory subject; providing adequate training to teachers and other school staff; and developing gender-specific prevention policies’.
Elsewhere, the report criticises the ‘restrictive abortion law’ that exists in Northern Ireland, a situation which is currently the subject of legal challenge in the High Court. The Rapporteur also warns at length against the potential effects of austerity on the provision of services to address violence against women, and particularly women with disabilities or from minority ethnic communities.
Commenting on the report, BHA Education Campaigner Jay Harman said: ‘This report is absolutely right to highlight the inadequacy of SRE provision in this country and the shocking way in which it currently fails our children. Full, accurate and age-appropriate SRE has consistently been shown to produce the best outcomes in terms of violence against women, gender stereotyping, homophobia and sexual health, and we welcome the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation that it be made compulsory.’
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For further comment or information, please contact BHA Education Campaigner Jay Harman at jay@humanists.uk or on 020 7324 3078.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on PSHE and SRE: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/school-curriculum/pshe-and-sex-and-relationships-education/
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.