"Leave, But Leave Safely"

The Jersey Women's Refuge is celebrating the strength of women who overcome domestic violence and rebuild their lives.

An event has been held at the Grand Hotel on International Women's Day, with the aim to 'break the silence' surrounding domestic abuse.

This year's IWD theme is #BreaktheBias.

Guests heard first-hand from Jersey Women's Refuge ambassador Tarenna, who is a survivor of domestic violence.

She stayed at the Refuge for three months after suffering around six years of abuse.

"I'm not going to tell you that when I left there I was the most amazing, confident person ever, but the help that I received was unbelievable.

They're so full of love and compassion and empathy and nothing is too much trouble for them.

They'll help you with the children, they give you advice, they give you hugs - it was just the most amazing place to be."

Tarenna delivered a speech to guests at the hotel.

Here is how she ended her speech.

"If I could give any women who are suffering abuse any advice, I would tell them to leave - but to leave safely.

Go to the large house. The house that is brimming with warmth, empathy, love and compassion, calm, kindness, and friendship.

The house is there for you. The house is called the Jersey Women's Refuge."

The Jersey Women's Refuge manager, Marine Oliveira, also spoke about the support they are able to offer to victims, and the work the charity does educating islanders to reduce domestic abuse.

The Constable of St Martin, Karen Shenton-Stone, also talked about how we can create an environment where women feel safe to speak out at work or at home, and how we can keep women safe in all walks of life.

She lodged a successful amendment to the Government Plan to create a task force to improve women's safety.

It will include researching the extent of sexual and domestic violence and harassment, including crimes such as drink spiking.

It will also hear from islanders and propose 'direct and achievable action plans.'

This year, the Refuge has teamed up with Victoria College to 'embed positive attitudes towards diversity, equality, and inclusivity' in the school and educate students about attitudes towards women and domestic abuse.

Ben Robins, who chairs the Jersey Women's Refuge committee, says talking with men and youth is key to bringing about an end to domestic violence.

"Young men and men need to understand what is completely unacceptable.

They need to understand principles of respect, of equality, that violence is never the answer, to recognise when manipulation might find its way into a relationship.

Teaching young people generally, but particularly young boys about this, so that they recognise also the impact it can have on the people that are on the receiving end, I think, is absolutely essential.

I think sometimes people might not realise that they're doing it in more subtle cases."

Jersey's government was told last year to get a better grasp of sexual harassment and abuse in schools following 68 anonymous testimonies from students at Jersey College for Girls.

Victoria College headteacher, Gareth Hughes, says the partnership goes a long way towards the mission 'to embed a culture of kindness' within the school.

"Our exciting new partnership with the JWR provides a fantastic opportunity for our students to better engage with and understand the important issue of domestic abuse. It will also help them to learn the role and responsibility of young people in tackling such abuse in future.”

Jersey has a new Chief of Police today to mark International Women's Day.

Robin Smith has stepped aside temporarily to allow Detective Superintendent Alison Fossey to take the reins.

Women now make up 42% of Jersey's Police workforce. An all-female shift is being deployed today to mark IWD.

"We’ve made great progress in breaking down bias from a time when women weren’t deemed suitable to be police officers.

The very first female officer at SoJP wasn’t sworn in until 1964, some 12 years after the force was established. Now women represent 42% of our workforce across the organisation.

Gender isn’t an obstacle in our organisation, we have women working in all departments, roles and ranks and we continue to strive to be a diverse and inclusive organisation." - DS Fossey.

The first women to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the UK will be the keynote speaker at Corbett Le Quesne's 'International Family Law Conference' later this year.

Lady Hale is best-known for ruling that Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully in suspending parliament over Brexit in 2019.

The law firm says it wanted to announce this on International Women's Day 'because she is such a passionate trailblazer and pioneer'.

"Our firm went to the Jersey Arts Centre to listen to her speak when she came to Jersey and we couldn’t have been more delighted when she agreed to share her thoughts with us this October.

International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Family law impacts women’s lives disproportionately so we are always pleased to promote International Women’s Day."