Push for £200k Citizens’ Panel on women’s safety

Wednesday 01 December 2021

A Constable is pushing for a £200,000 Citizens’ Assembly to consider how women’s safety can be better protected in Jersey.

St. Martin’s Karen Shenton-Stone, who is behind the idea, was one of a number of female States Members who wrote to Home Affairs Minister Deputy Gregory Guida after he made a number of comments about drink spiking, and sexual harassment and assault.

The group said his comments had left them “stunned” and “disappointed”, urging Deputy Guida to carry out a survey into sexual harassment and create a cross-departmental strategy to prevent violence and harassment against women.

Now Constable Shenton-Stone has put forward an amendment to the Government Plan – its proposed budget for 2022 to 2025 - asking for funding for a public consultation and the creation of a Citizens’ Assembly to bring forward proposals to:

• “challenge the remaining barriers and social norms and attitudes that facilitate gender discrimination towards girls and boys, women, and men; 

• identify and dismantle economic and salary norms that result in gender inequalities, and reassess the economic value placed on work traditionally held by women; 

• in particular, seek to ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in the workplace, politics, and public life; 

•  recognise the importance of early years parental care and seek to facilitate greater work-life balance; 

• examine the social responsibility of care and women and men’s co- responsibility for care, especially within the family;

• and scrutinise the structural pay inequalities that result in women being disproportionately represented in low pay sectors.”

“Following the success of the Jersey Climate Conversation’s Citizens’ Assembly, I believe that, for such a small, densely populated island, this may provide an opportune model for pursuing greater involvement from islanders outside of election periods and surveys, and allow us to build on the momentum from the period of consultation outlined above to develop new and potentially radical new ways to combat gender inequality in this island,” the Constable explained in a report laying out her proposals.

She noted a similar assembly had been set up in Ireland and made recommendations to the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. 

She argued that the final agenda of the Assembly should be at the discretion of the Assembly and its convenors, and that the consultation would “inevitably’ be an essential component of its work. 

Pictured: Constable Karen Shenton-Stone (bottom left) was one of a number of States Members to call out comments by the Home Affairs Minister (bottom, middle).

In her report, Constable Shenton-Stone also referred to the UK Government’s “extensive public consultation” to shape its Tackling Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2021-2024. It received more than 180,000 public submissions.

“It is my belief that a similar period of consultation should be undertaken in Jersey to gather information on experiences of violence against women and girls in Jersey, including crimes such as drink spiking,” she wrote.

“Such a consultation would be invaluable in understanding the experiences of islanders, and help to indicate where islanders may otherwise feel uncomfortable or unable to open up and talk about their experiences, potentially identifying crimes and problems that many feel unable to report on, allowing us to offer safer, more inclusive ways of reporting that can then lead to a direct and productive response.”

Constable Shenton-Stone noted the final design of the consultation should be developed by the Justice and Home Affairs and Strategic Policy, Planning Departments along with Performance and the States of Jersey Police.

Addressing potential concerns from States Members about the funding she is proposing for the creation of the Assembly, £200,000, she added: “Some members may see the establishment of such an extensive piece of consultation and engagement as a waste of money and resources. 

“My challenge to them is to ask for a better way to drive forward public engagement on gender inequality and women’s safety, and ensure that real change can be delivered in the years to come."