Safer Spaces Policy
Women for Women International (WfWI) are committed to making you feel safe and keeping you safe at our live and virtual events. We operate the following Safer Spaces Policy. The most important thing we want you to know is that if something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable at one of our events, no matter how minor it seems, you can report it to us.
A safe space is a space in which people are protected from any kind or level of abuse. Women for Women International staff are committed to prioritising the safety of event guests, volunteers and staff. Harassment and inappropriate behaviour of event guests, panellists, staff or volunteers at WfWI events will not be tolerated and anyone violating this policy at our events may be asked to leave based on the discretion of the WfWI team.
Abusive and inappropriate behaviour constitute offensive verbal comments or discriminatory attitudes related to gender, gender identity and presentation, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, physical appearance, class, language, race, ethnicity, nationality, asylum status, activist experience or religious affiliation; physical violence and attempted physical violence; aggression and intimidating behaviour; stalking; following; harassing photography or recording without prior consent; use of derogatory language to insult or undermine; inappropriate physical contact; any kind of non-consensual sexual behaviour or unwelcome sexual attention; sustained disruption of the event; and wilful or attempted damage to the space itself. Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately.
If you feel you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or you feel unsafe in the space at any time, please contact a member of our team. Our staff and volunteers are required to report any of the above behaviours and we encourage event attendees to report too. Once Women for Women International staff become aware of any of the above behaviours occurring, they will intervene and request that the person involved desist and remind them of the Safer Spaces Policy.
Individuals who disregard or continually behave in ways that contravene the Safer Spaces Agreement may be asked to leave the event without entitlement to any refund of ticket price. Any individual or group engaging in violence (including verbal violence or harassment) will be immediately excluded from the event and will not be entitled to any refund of ticket price. Depending on the nature of the incident and the wishes of those affected by the behaviour, we may also contact (or support others in contacting) outside agencies such as the police based on our discretion.
Women for Women International also accepts that we are not above our own policies, so please know that all the above applies to all members of our team in equal measure. If there are ever any aspects of our team behaviour that you feel are offensive or make you uncomfortable, please inform us.
If you’d like to discuss our Safer Spaces Policy or have any concerns about feeling comfortable at our events or in our online spaces, please email Sara Bowcutt sbowcutt@womenforwomen.org. Women for Women International staff will take any report of unacceptable behaviour seriously and take action as described above. All communication related to this policy will be dealt with on a need-to-know basis.