Louise Mullany 'BBC Breakfast' Interview
Professor Louise Mullany, (along with Dr Loretta Trickett, Nottingham Trent University) has been shortlisted for the THE Awards 2021 “Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community” award. Their research project, “Women’s safety is everyone’s responsibility: Gender hate crime in Nottinghamshire” became a national beacon, highlighting the long-neglected issue of street harassment, violence and abuse of women and girls in public spaces.
The work involved extensive and diverse collaboration with community partners and organisations, including members of the public and students, and provided vital research to enable societal change. Their work empowered Nottingham's community and national legislators to call out such behaviours as unacceptable and identify them as a root cause of gendered-based violence and inequality, and gave voice to women whose experiences of gender abuse in public had informed their fears of assault and reduced their use of public space.
This re-framing has echoed in politics, legislation, and policing, and is influencing the development of inclusive and accessible educational resources based on personal gendered testimony that include men and boys as allies in the fight against public harassment of women and girls.
About her nomination, Professor Mullany said: “The THE shortlisting was particularly welcome news due to the misogyny hate crime focus of our nomination. So many different individuals and groups in the local community have worked together tirelessly to make misogyny a hate crime, pioneered by Nottinghamshire Police, Citizens UK and Nottingham Women’s Centre.
Dr Loretta Trickett and I are proud to have been one part of this as academics. The initiative shows the power of what communities can do when organisations and universities come together. We will grow this work in future through the Universities for Nottingham civic initiative as well as continuing our work nationally and internationally.”
The THE Awards are described as the 'Oscars of higher education'. Each year, they attract hundreds of entries that exemplify the talent, dedication and innovation of individuals and teams across all aspects of university life.
The winners will be announced on Thursday 25 November at an in-person awards ceremony held in London. You can read more on the THE Awards web site: here.
Posted on Wednesday 3rd November 2021