Debate contribution: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls

Debate contribution by Ms Emma Sheerin on 14 January 2025.

MLA: Ms Emma Sheerin
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 14 January 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Opposition Business
Heading: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4736233

Text

I support the motion. The last time I spoke about the issue in the Chamber was on 21 October last year, at which time I lamented the fact that, in the previous eight years, 42 women had been murdered in the North. Even since then, another woman has been murdered here, and, at this time, I send my condolences to the family and friends of Karen Cummings. Just three days ago, we learned of the murder of another woman, Annie Heyneman, just across the border in County Cavan. Again, I send my thoughts and sympathies to all who have been affected by that. All of that is to say that we can barely get through an Assembly recess period without the murder of a woman or girl in this part of the world. These headlines have now become the norm here, but nothing about this is normal, and we need to reflect on that. The North of Ireland is the most dangerous place in Europe to be a woman, and the most dangerous place to be a woman in the North of Ireland is in her own home. Most of these women are murdered within their own houses by people whom they know. Again, the statistics tell us that the most at-risk time for a woman in an abusive relationship is when she attempts to leave that relationship, yet still we hear: "Why was she with him? What did she stay for?" That is why she stayed. It does not begin with busted lips or black eyes or broken glasses. It does not begin with another of the headlines that are less and less shocking as they build up. It does not begin with a murder. We know that there is a pyramid of violence against women and girls. It begins in playgrounds. It begins in changing rooms. It begins within the confines of group chats, memes, innuendoes and remarks, and there is a running commentary that overtly sexualises women, dehumanises an entire section of our society and reduces an awful lot of women to the sum of their body parts — body parts that, ultimately, they do not own, because they end up another statistic. At this point, I take the opportunity to send solidarity to our former colleague in the House, the Alliance MP, Sorcha Eastwood, for her incredibly brave statement the other day, which I am sure that many of you will have seen. It was so commendable for her to speak so openly about her experience, and I am sure that there is not a woman in the Building who will not have found herself relating to some of the words that Sorcha sadly expressed. There is a duty on all of us to work together to end this phenomenon, and I am glad that the strategy is going to work.

475 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.

Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.06 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.61).
No identity-based framing was identified (0.80).
Subject area: Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups.
The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.

This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.

Jev’s structured answers

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.20	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.03	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.02	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.04	No
Controversy escalation	0.05	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.61	Yes
Overall judgement	0.06	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	0.80
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.20
Adopts it	0.00

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups	0.61
Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues	0.39
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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