Good evening everyone. My name is Jo Salmon. I’m the Women’s Officer for the National Union of Students and I’m proud to stand here in solidarity with so many sisters, standing up for and demanding our rights to live our lives free from harassment, violence and abuse. And in particular, standing up for those women who cannot be here tonight.

Those women whose partners have put them in hospital.

Those women who are trapped in violent relationships.

Those women who have been attacked or raped and for whom justice will be denied.

That’s why we are here on this cold night.

Because when one of our sisters is beaten or raped, we all suffer.

We know what’s being going on in the news. We know that one in three people thinks that a woman should be held partially or wholly responsible if a man rapes her.

We know that the small percentage of women who report a rape now face a legal precedent that if they were drunk at the time of the attack, then their word counts for nothing.

And we know that rape isn’t just an instrument of wars abroad – it’s used against us on our streets and in our homes.

Sisters, enough is enough.

It is time for us to fight back.

We need more and better support for women who have experienced violence or rape.

We need more and better funding for refuges and helplines.

And we need to unite together to speak out on behalf of women who have experienced and survived violence and rape.

There IS a light at the end of the tunnel but unless society adjusts its priorities to support the victim and not the perpetrator, it will be an unnecessarily long and hard road to recovery.

Women need to have faith in the justice system, faith in the courts, and faith in their peers to refrain from judging them because of the clothes they wear, or their sexual history, or the fact that they fought back after years of abuse.

Unless society and government find a way to build that faith in our systems, then women will not speak out and justice will not be served.

Sisters, the system will never change unless you and I speak out. Speak out for justice. Speak out for equality. Speak out for the women whose voices will never be heard so long as they live in fear of violence and hurt.

Many women who experience violence and assault feel deep shame and guilt. Well, we are here tonight to say that the only people who should feel ashamed, the only people who should feel guilty are the ones who ARE guilty.

We need to send a message to our political representatives in our councils, in the GLA and in Westminster that violence against women MUST become the number one priority on their agendas. From funding local services to providing safe transport to urgently needed changes in the law.

The research and events of this week are a wake-up call to us all. Things have got to change. So let’s make that change. It starts here and it starts now.

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