Luisa Porritt 

I CAN recall when International Women’s Day was considered a bit niche. In 2014, Emma Watson had to point out to the UN that feminism is not a dirty word. It’s a mark of progress that a moment which seemed so radical then, would not be regarded as such now.

In Britain and beyond, yesterday businesses and organisations posted on their social media accounts celebrating the women who drive things forward and those who legacy paved the way.

Yet only last weekend Naomi Long, Member of the Legislative Assembly and Leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland, spoke up about receiving a litany of misogynistic abuse on Twitter.

From being called a c**t to being told that her dad “should have pulled out”, reading this not only made me angry on her behalf but also brought back traumatic memories.

When Naomi and I were colleagues in the European Parliament, at various points I received degrading responses to posts about my work. At the most extreme end, some told me to commit suicide.

Others said they wanted to sexually assault me. One day, I gained traction because there was more interest in whether I was wearing a bra than the content of what I was saying. I lost count of the number of times I was described as a “little girl”, despite being in my thirties.

It’s not only online abuse that hasn’t changed.

Nicola Bulley’s tragic case brought several manifestations of misogyny.

First, the police decided to share that Nicola may have been going through the menopause. Then the media accused the female investigating detective of wearing a dress deemed too sexy. None of our institutions showed any basic respect towards the women concerned.

This is the starting point of an environment of gender-based hate in which Epsom College Headteacher Emma Pattinson’s husband could kill her and her daughter, and PC David Carrick could carry out 85 serious offences, including 48 rapes, over 17 years.

You don’t have to look far over Camden’s border to find the recent case of Norma Girolami. She was befriended by a man who financially abused then murdered her, burying her body in a Barnet graveyard. As so often with these cases, Norma’s killer had form.

He had previously been found guilty of taking pictures of naked women. He was also convicted for battery against a former girlfriend at 17 years old – behaviour that was a precursor to him becoming a murderer by 42.

If we are serious about ending misogyny, we must teach boys to respect girls so they will become men who respect women. In every institution, from classrooms to courts, police stations to Parliament, we need leaders who are determined to use their power to change our culture.

Thank you, Camden New Journal, for doing your part and dedicating this edition to making women’s voices heard. But when I look back on what I wrote about this two years ago, what’s most striking is how fundamentally nothing’s changed.

Luisa Porritt is a former leader of the Camden Liberal Democrats, mayoral candidate and MEP