By Kate Wright
I’M continually impressed by the commitment, determination, and sheer volume of effort going into delivering the 77 recommendations of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Taskforce Report. These are significant, vital pieces of work that, if fully delivered and received with the openness they deserve, could lead to long-lasting systemic change. Change that goes beyond women and girls and begins to reshape the very foundations of how Jersey functions as a society.
And yet, ever since I first presented the findings of the report, and every time I’ve mentioned it since, I’ve been left disturbed by the lack of response to one of its most troubling findings. One that cuts to the very core of the Island’s culture.
That finding is this: Jersey has an untouchable system. Our researcher found that Jersey is a place where power wears a polite face. Where silence is rewarded and where the system too often protects itself.
The VAWG Taskforce Report lifted the lid. It described a “fragmented, male-biased, untouchable system” – a system which enables a landscape in which many women and girls live with such relentless threat and harm that, in our independent researcher’s words, it has become “the wallpaper of their lives”. Always there. Just part of the scenery.
The report goes further than exposing institutional failure. It tells the truth about aspects of Jersey’s culture – a place where proximity to power makes people cautious. Where speaking out can feel dangerous.
In a place this small, the personal is political. Your boss might sit on the same board as your abuser. The person handling your case might play golf with the man you’re reporting. That’s not paranoia. That’s lived reality.
One survivor captured this frightening reality when she said: “The system is designed to protect those in power. When I reported my abuse, I felt like I was the one on trial. Everyone knew everyone – so I kept quiet. It was safer that way.”
In such an environment, fear becomes a rational survival strategy.
This untouchable system doesn’t only exist in government departments or courtrooms. It lives in the unspoken code that governs life in Jersey: protect reputations. Don’t rock the boat. Never challenge those with connections.
It’s reinforced by policies that keep people compliant – like our immigration and housing systems, which leave many workers dependent on permits, leases, and goodwill to stay in the Island. The message for anyone without status or security is chillingly clear: stay quiet or leave. Even professionals – teachers, social workers, police officers, doctors – aren’t immune. Many have confided, quietly and off the record, that they feel unable to challenge harm when they see it. They’re afraid of losing jobs, credibility or relationships. As one professional told the taskforce: “… I often witness harm but feel powerless to act. Challenging the system can jeopardise my career, so many of us remain silent.”
Harm is observed, but unchallenged. That’s how the system stays intact.
When I first heard the independent researcher describe this “untouchable system”, I was horrified. Her words echoed the findings of the 2017 Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, which identified a culture of secrecy and deference to authority – the so-called “Jersey Way” – that prioritised the Island’s reputation over the safety of its most vulnerable. The inquiry noted a “failure to establish a culture of openness and transparency, leading to a perception at least, of collusion and cover-up”.
I remember wondering, as the VAWG Taskforce researcher’s words sunk in, how is it possible – in the aftermath of such shocking findings – that we have collectively allowed our Island culture to essentially remain unchanged, or at least that our complacency has ensured change so slow it is barely noticeable? This “untouchable system” is not a conspiracy theory or a myth – it has now been well evidenced in significant research, not once but twice in the past ten years.
And there is more troubling evidence on the way. The effects of this “untouchable system” are already becoming evident in the migrant research currently being carried out on behalf of the Jersey Community Relations Trust. When the findings are made public, the question will be whether this troubling aspect of our Island’s culture continues to be overlooked or finally acknowledged.
And yet, beneath the surface, something is shifting.
The VAWG report is more than a set of recommendations. It is a mirror, held up to the Island. It forms part of a growing pattern of unease about who holds power in Jersey, how that power is used and who pays the price.
The VAWG Taskforce is not the first to call out Jersey’s “untouchable system”. Directly calling out and naming this culture is rare not because people didn’t see it, but because the risk of naming it has always been so high.
But this moment feels different because our research offers both legitimacy and a platform for hidden voices. There is also a growing global conversation around power, abuse, and systemic harm, to which Jersey isn’t immune.
And let’s remember: the original meaning of “the Jersey Way” once stood for something proud – community spirit, neighbourliness and a deep commitment to helping one another. These values haven’t disappeared. They’re still here, woven into the fabric of Island life, ready to rise again and shape a fairer future.
I believe we’re witnessing a moment of truth-telling – a shift from whispered concerns to public reckoning and a rising recognition that something deeper must change. That laws and policies are not enough. That unless we confront the cultural norms and power structures that hold the current system in place, we will simply reproduce the same harm in more palatable packaging.
Real change won’t come through confrontation alone. Jersey is a relational place. Change here will come through culture. Through community building, storytelling, art, education. Through brave conversations that name what has long been left unnamed: the complicity of institutions, the myth of neutrality, the quiet cruelty of polite power.
It will come through steady, compassionate, honest work – creating new spaces where truth is not a liability, but a catalyst for healing. For justice. For accountability.
It will come when we choose courage over silence. When we value transparency more than tradition. When we stop protecting the system and start protecting each other and when we recognise that Jersey can be a place of fairness and care for all its citizens. A place where the system works for everyone – not just the well-connected.
By embracing transparency, accountability and cultural change, we can ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated – and that all individuals, especially the most vulnerable, are protected and valued in Jersey. I hope to expand on this call to action in future pieces, but my first call is a simple one: let’s speak the truth and choose change.
Kate Wright is chief executive of Freeda and chairs the Jersey Community Relations Trust.
