Men have to be involved in conversations around equality

Professor Edward Peck, Vice-Chancellor, Nottingham Trent University (NTU)

 IWD 2022

As Vice-Chancellor, I am determined to see that equality, diversity and inclusion stay at the core of what we do. This year NTU is putting a particular focus during International Women's Day on the role men play in achieving gender equality.

In the wake of the tragic murder of Sarah Everard, I was contacted by our Women’s Staff Network to discuss additional ways to ensure that everyone can feel as safe as possible on campus, whether working or studying. We have taken immediate practical action and our dialogue continues.

We understand that most of the unease - and sometimes fear - that women experience in public spaces arises from the behaviour of men. This is why our Empower Programme includes a series of talks focused on women’s safety: understanding misogyny as a hate crime; preventing violence against women and girls; and celebrating the achievements of women at NTU.

The programme builds on the award-winning research, policy and practice of Associate Professor Loretta Trickett from Nottingham Law School, undertaken with colleagues from the University of Nottingham. This work aims to make women and girls safer by ending gender- based hate crime and abuse, Professor Trickett was part of the pioneering team which worked with Nottinghamshire Police to make misogyny a hate crime.

Men have to be involved in conversations around equality. They need to take responsibility for their own actions as individuals and consider how their teams, their organisations and their own approach could be more inclusive. Not to do so is to be part of the problem.