White Ribbon Day

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:15 pm on 20 November 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 2:15, 20 November 2018

I don't think I can add much to what the Member has said. She puts it so powerfully herself. When she mentioned the fact that women and young girls are particularly portrayed as victims, I started to rack my mind as to some of the programmes that I've seen recently, and she's right. I hadn't actually spotted it, so I'm grateful to her for raising that issue, and she's absolutely right that the promotion of victimhood encourages people to make people victims, and I think that is certainly a strong issue there and it's something that I think will need to be examined in the future.

Secondly, she's partially right, I think, to say that about the judiciary. I think that, in their defence, younger judges particularly are very well aware of the world around them and, of course, what is appropriate to say and what is not appropriate to say. I think that, certainly, when I was in practice, some of the older judges at that time perhaps were of a different era. But the judges that I know would be very, very much aware of the need to be sensitive and appropriate, and certainly they wouldn't, I'm sure, say anything like that in a summing up.

But I do wonder whether we've gone backwards. I do, because it seemed until quite recently that the issue of gender equality and the issue of respect were something that was a never-ending journey towards a more positive outcome. I'm not sure it is. I don't believe that Wales is a safe place for women to come forward with allegations, I have to say, and that is something that we all recognise as political parties, and we all recognise that steps have to be taken with regard to that. So, there's much work to be done. But that work, of course, is driven forward very strongly by the kind of representations that she has made and others in this Chamber have made, and the representation that she has made and those of my friend from the Vale of Glamorgan and others in this Chamber will always be strongly supported by me.