Emergency motion at NEU conference on harassment, abuse and violence against women

By a conference delegate

The following is the text of an emergency motion, as amended, passed by 97% of the vote by conference today:

Conference acknowledges the endemic nature of abuse, harassment and violence faced by women in society. It commends the work the Union has done to raise awareness, in particular, the Domestic Abuse Toolkit and It’s Just Everywhere report.

Conference notes the:

1. testimonies on the #EveryonesInvited website documenting high levels of sexual harassment and assault within schools and colleges.
2. All Party Parliamentary Group for UN Women report that 80% of all UK women (and 97% of women under 25) are subject to routine sexual harassment and abuse.
3. public outcry at the murders of Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman
4. increased awareness of severity of domestic violence during the Covid-19 lockdown
5. UK Femicide Census which reports that one woman is killed by a man every three days.

Conference believes that schools and colleges must take action to ensure that women and girls are safe and respected. This means:

1. proactively challenging any sexism, sexual harassment and abuse as an integral part of their work
2. women and girls must be supported to speak up about sexual harassment, abuse and violence.
3. robust sexual harassment and abuse policies should be in place for both students and staff.
4. provision of an explicitly anti-sexist curriculum including high quality RSE.
5. Male teachers and boys need to learn about sexism and its roots and develop understanding and methods to challenge their peers in order to pro-actively support women and girls.

Conference instructs the Executive to:

1. Develop a model policy on sexual harassment in schools for students and staff before the end of 2021.
2. Include a session at a National District and Secretaries Briefing in 2022 on the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Harassment policies for all attendees.
3. Work with local districts to win implementation of both policies in every workplace.
4. Develop training and bargaining tools/materials for reps and branches on preventing, challenging and reporting sexism, sexual harassment and sex discrimination.
5. Campaign for Initial Teacher Training to include training on anti-sexist education.
6. Share case studies of anti-sexist curriculum work with members through Educate magazine and the website.
7. Reaffirm the Union’s commitment to tackling sexism, sexual harassment and abuse within the Union.
8. Ensure members know how to challenge and report any incidents that occur within the Union or the movement.
9. Support campaigns for well-funded specialist public services for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.