These changes, which will apply to England and Wales as the regional governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own powers in this matter, are contained in two amendments to the Police, Justice and Criminal Sentencing Act, which will be introduced shortly in Parliament, Raab said.
They come after the commotion caused by a series of murders, including that of Londoner Sarah Everard at the hands of a policeman, which unleashed an avalanche of testimonies from women about their feelings of insecurity.
“Beyond the headlines about these tragic cases, the scale of violence against women and girls is disgusting,” the minister wrote.
“In the 12 months to March 2020, 1.6 million women were victims of gender violence, more than 600,000 were sexually assaulted and almost 900,000 were harassed,” he said. “We have to turn this around,” he stressed.
“Protecting women and girls, and giving them confidence in the criminal justice system, is my top priority,” she said.
Last year, the British government apologized for having “failed” for years “thousands” of rape victims, a crime at a record low of convictions despite a sharp increase in the number of complaints.
The protection of breastfeeding women from voyeurism and harassment comes after a campaign launched by Labor MP Stella Creasy, who was caught on camera breastfeeding her baby on public transport.
