UK Policing HeForShe Event – Checking In and Building Consistency

South Wales, Tuesday 29th April 2025. 

In today’s global climate where conversations around equality, justice, and institutional reform are more urgent than ever, it is clear that policing has a vital role to play in building fair and inclusive societies.  As a long-standing member of the global HeForShe Alliance, UK policing has a unique opportunity and responsibility to lead the way in advancing gender equality within law enforcement and the communities it serves. How this is embraced and delivered is fundamental to building trust, ensuring fair treatment, and fostering a culture where everyone, regardless of gender, feels seen, heard, and safe. Through their commitment to HeForShe, UK policing recognizes that sustainable progress requires consistent action, reflection, and collaboration.

In this context of collective responsibility and continued progress, police forces from across the UK came together in South Wales on Tuesday 29th April 2025 for a national HeForShe event.  The event focused on the theme ‘Checking In and Building Consistency’, asking forces to evaluate what progress they have made towards gender equality in policing and what they would like to achieve next. The aim of this work is to strengthen the HeForShe network across all aspects of policing to make a greater impact.

The event was held at South Wales Police HQ in Bridgend, in their purpose-built Police Learning Centre. Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan is the UK Policing Lead for HeForShe, he said 

“It has been a great event, it is important that we come together as a network to share good practice and look at what we want to achieve next. We are more powerful when we work together and HeForShe aims to unite people towards gender equality in policing”. - Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan, UK Policing Lead for HeForShe 

A key highlight of the event was the unveiling of the new HeForShe Communications Toolkit, designed to empower UK police forces to speak more authentically and effectively about allyship. While specifically targeted at UK forces, the toolkit is also available for police forces globally, offering a template that can be adapted to suit their own contexts and needs. By providing practical guidance on how to communicate the principles of gender equality encourage gender-sensitive policing, ensuring that HeForShe’s message is translated into actionable strategies for police forces worldwide.

As forces build on the momentum from this national event, the focus now turns to sustained implementation - turning commitments into measurable change. This work reaffirms UK policing’s role in the HeForShe Alliance, driving forward gender equality in line with HeForShe’s vision of inclusive leadership and shared responsibility.

UK Policing reports on its progress in an annual report. Their sixth annual report was launched in November 2024.