Stamping out police sexism: Sign up to our expert International Women’s Day panel event

To mark International Women’s Day, The Independent is bringing together a panel of experts to discuss how police forces in the UK are tackling violence against women and attempting to stamp out institutionalised sexism.

Three years on from the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, the panel will explore what’s changed in Britain’s police forces – if anything – and discuss what work still needs to be done.

Hosted by The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin, we will be joined by retired police chief Susannah Fish OBE.

Sue joined Nottinghamshire Police in 1986 as a constable, and her career has seen her work across uniform and detective roles in Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands, the Metropolitan Police, and nationally. Her career culminated in being appointed Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police until her retirement in 2017.

She was awarded the OBE for services to policing in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2008; received the Queen’s Policing Medal for distinguished service in the Birthday Honours 2016; and was also awarded Upstander of the Year in the national hate crime awards 2017 for her leadership on misogyny as a hate crime.

Our panel also includes Dr Jessica Taylor, a chartered psychologist and the director of VictimFocus.

VictimFocus works with police forces and victim services to improve services, resources, advice, support, and training for professionals working with victims and witnesses of crime.

Our second panellist is also a fierce advocate of women’s rights. Harriet Johnson, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, is a founder member of Women in Criminal Law, trustee of the charity Women in Prison and often acts on behalf of women against public authorities.

A powerful speaker, Harriet has given addresses at conferences all over the world. She is a regular media contributor who is frequently called upon to provide legal insight and commentary on a range of contemporary topics, but in particular concerning violence against women.

Harriet’s first book, “Enough: the violence against women and how to end it” was an Amazon bestseller and focuses considerably on police failings.

Also attending the event is Abigail Ampofo, interim CEO of leading domestic abuse charity Refuge.

Abigail joined Refuge in November 2021 in the newly created post of Director of Service Delivery, leading all of Refuge’s operational services including refuge accommodation, community-based services, Refuge’s flagship Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment Team and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.

Abigail has worked in social care or local government for nearly two decades, holding strategic or senior leadership positions for the last 15 years.

The event will be hosted on Zoom and will last one hour. It will take place on Friday 8 March and will start at 6.30pm GMT.

Once signed up you will be able to ask questions to the panel. You can also post questions in the comments of this article.

For more information and to sign up for a free ticket click here.

Refuge supports many thousands of women and children every day, in our emergency accommodation, our community services, and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, which Refuge runs, and which is the gateway to support services across the country. Every two minutes someone looks to Refuge for help.

More than one in four women in England and Wales experiences domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime, and on average two women are killed by a current or former partner a week.

This International Women’s Day stand with the 1 in 4 women who will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime by donating to Refuge today.