When Issy Vine spoke up about wrongdoing while working as a 999 call handler for the Metropolitan Police, she did so believing the promises she had been told - that whistleblowers would be listened to, protected, and supported.

Instead, speaking out cost her almost everything.

A public petition is calling for a Government-led inquiry into sexual violence reported in NHS hospitals and other healthcare settings.

Reports suggest this is not a series of isolated incidents, but a nationwide issue affecting patients in spaces that should be safe. Survivors deserve accountability, transparency, and meaningful action - not silence.

Every March, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) brings together governments, campaigners, experts, and organisers from across the world to shape what comes next for women’s rights.

In March 2026, you can take part from wherever you are in the UK.

The Police Leadership Commission is inviting people across the country to share what matters to them about police leadership - and help shape the future of policing.

Set up by the College of Policing, with the support of the Home Office, the Commission is carrying out a wide-ranging review of police leadership to assess whether it is equipped to meet today’s challenges and public expectations.

On Saturday 7 March 2026, women will gather in Central London for the 19th Annual Million Women Rise March and Rally, held on International Women’s Day. A long-standing, women-led movement, Million Women Rise calls for an end to male violence against women and girls. This is an all-women event, rooted in solidarity and collective strength.

You don’t have to attend alone. Make Yourself Heard will coordinate a group and share a connection point nearer the time. Drop us a message to express interest.

A BBC investigation exposes something many women already know too well: technology is being used to replicate harm, faster and at scale.

A woman described feeling “dehumanised and reduced to a sexual stereotype” after Grok, the AI tool linked to Elon Musk and the platform X, was used to digitally remove her clothes without consent. Not because she shared anything sexual. Not because she agreed. But because the technology allowed it - and the platform failed to stop it.

In 2025, Open Justice For All changed the law. That sentence matters - but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

Behind the headline achievement sit hundreds of unanswered emails. Proposals rejected. Hostility toward those seeking transparency. And the familiar experience of reform being diluted once it edges closer to power.

Some days, the news doesn’t just inform us - it presses on us.

Stories of violence against women and girls.
Police failures that feel systemic, not exceptional.
Powerful men protected by money and status; women silenced.

Names surface again and again - Sean Combs, Jeffrey Epstein - reminders of how long abuse can hide in plain sight when power is involved.

And this week, the pattern feels especially relentless.

Different opinions. Different perspectives. Different ways of being heard.

Make Yourself Heard exists to create space - for voices that challenge, question, create, and care. We know that not everyone’s work fits a traditional format, and not every story is told in the same way. That’s exactly why this platform exists.

We’re always open to submissions across writing, campaigning, advocacy, and creative practice.

Centre for Women’s Justice, Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, Rape Crisis England & Wales and Bindmans LLP have launched a rare police super-complaint, challenging the scale and harm of excessively long police investigations into sexual offences.

This winter, Rape Crisis South London is raising vital funds to ensure survivors of sexual violence can access specialist counselling, advocacy, and community support. Your donation helps break the silence and ensures survivors are believed, supported, and heard.

Healing Hearts: Life After CSE are raising funds for a Survivor’s Ball - a survivor-led event created specifically for victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation.

For many survivors, moments that should have been joyful - school proms, celebrations, feeling carefree and safe - were never possible because of what they endured. This ball is about giving something back: a day centred on joy, dignity, and connection, in a space designed with care, safety, and understanding at its heart.

Sisters Uncut: Open Meeting

Sisters Uncut are holding an open meeting on 11 January to honour the life of Sarah Reed and to organise around the urgent issues that continue to shape our justice landscape: anti-fascism, police brutality, and the failures within the domestic abuse sector.

Change doesn’t happen in isolation - it comes from communities, networks, and individuals who use their voice and energy to push for better. In the work we do, we’ve been fortunate to connect with some incredible friends and allies who are leading conversations online, building awareness, and advocating for justice in powerful ways.

Too often, the voices of victims and survivors are pushed aside, or the issues affecting them are spoken about without them. That’s why it matters so much to highlight and amplify people who are not only speaking truth, but also creating space for others to be heard.

The government has committed to changing the law so that survivors’ previous experiences of rape and sexual violence can no longer be used against them in court - a long-fought reform led by Imkaan, Centre for Women’s Justice, Rights of Women, Rape Crisis England & Wales and EVAW.

I sat through Edward’s inquest, and I’ve never felt such anger, frustration or sadness listening to police failures set out so starkly. A young man died in suspicious circumstances, and the investigation he deserved simply never happened.

Key evidence lost. Witnesses never interviewed. Conflicting accounts left unchallenged. And, once again, harmful assumptions about sexuality shaping the narrative instead of facts.

Call for Participants: Galop’s Survivor Research Group

Galop is creating a new Survivor Research Group and is inviting LGBT+ survivors in England and Wales to register their interest. The group will meet online every three months to help shape Galop’s research - from co-designing ethical approaches to analysing data alongside their policy team.

The government has announced a new package of reforms aimed at giving rape victims a fairer, safer experience in court and tackling the rape myths that continue to shape trial outcomes.

The announcement forms part of the government’s Plan for Change to rebuild trust in the system and halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

Rape Crisis England & Wales has launched Living in Limbo, their new report exposing something survivors have been saying for years: the criminal justice system is retraumatising people long before a trial ever begins.

The law has failed a woman and her child - and now they’re fighting back

A six-year-old girl has been forced by a High Court ruling to keep the surname of the man who raped her mother. He hasn’t seen her in years, has threatened to kill them both, and yet the court decided his name should define her “identity and heritage”.