Reflections from Greater Manchester's Deputy Mayor on International Women's Day

By Kate Green, Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for Safer and Stronger Communities

This week, I’ve had the privilege of attending many events to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (Saturday 8 March 2025).

These events have provided an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women across the globe and the work taking place right here in our pioneering city-region to empower, encourage and protect women and girls.

It’s also a time to take stock and confront the barriers and struggles that persist and the action still needed to break them down. While this celebration and action is needed every day – not just today – International Women’s Day is a reminder that the fight for gender equality is unfinished business.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity, as an MP, in the Shadow Cabinet, and now as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, to champion women’s rights, push for policy change, and amplify the voices of those who too often go unheard.

I have seen firsthand that real, lasting change doesn’t come from a single moment, it comes from the relentless determination of those who refuse to accept inequality as inevitable. It reminds us now not only of the progress we’ve made but of the work that still lies ahead.

This is why our 10-year Gender-Based Violence Strategy is crucial. Across Greater Manchester and beyond, gender inequalities remain in all aspects of society, women and girls often feel unsafe in spaces they should feel secure, and bias – both overt and subtle – continues to hold women back. This has to change.

While gendered abuse and violence can affect anyone, we know the vast majority is perpetrated by men and boys towards women and girls, and this is the focus of our strategy.

From safety initiatives across our transport network and night-time economy, to improved policing responses and criminal justice outcomes for victims of domestic abuse, we are already seeing positive change.?

Another area that is beginning to have impact is our education and public engagement programmes to promote positive masculinity – shifting beliefs, values, and behaviours among young men, especially towards women.

And this starts in the classroom. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll complete our education pilot with Salford Foundation – Steps – focused on the systemic reduction of gender-based violence through targeted education initiatives. Hundreds of young people in our primary and secondary schools have already participated in sessions on gender stereotypes, online exposure, healthy relationships and consent.

We’re also working with universities to ensure no young woman feels unsafe on campus or in our night-time economy, supporting initiatives such as Street Angels and Village Angels.

Through our award-winning #IsThisOK? campaign we’ve engaged millions of people through our videos, advertising materials, podcasts and media features in an important conversation about the everyday harassment that women and girls face. We’ve asked men and boys to think and talk about these behaviours and the attitudes that underpin them, and to make a change.

Following our most recent phase, over half of the men and boys surveyed (53%) said the campaign had made them think, feel, or want to do something differently.

None of this would be possible without the women and male allies across our Safer Stronger workforce and networks, and I want to thank and pay tribute to them today. Whether in GMCA, our Fire and Rescue Service, Greater Manchester Police or the many services and voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise partners we work with, our people are delivering fantastic work – day in, day out – to break down barriers for women.

Just yesterday, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service launched a new campaign aimed at recruiting more female firefighters as part of ongoing efforts to increase workforce diversity. This is vital because having a workforce that truly reflects the communities it serves enhances our ability to understand their needs and respond effectively. GMFRS has made great progress in this space with just under 10% of our firefighters now female, up from only 1.83% in 2015. But there is still a way to go. ?

Finally, I am grateful to the many groups that support our work, in particular the gender-based violence Lived Experience Panel, set up last year, with inspiring women and girls using very difficult personal experiences to empower and improve the future for women.

International Women’s Day is more than a moment, it’s a movement. It is a call to action to challenge stereotypes, question bias, celebrate and support the successes of women, and dismantle barriers, not just acknowledge them.

I remain wholly committed to ensuring the safety of women and girls, addressing intersecting inequalities, and engaging the diverse voices of those with lived experience to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.