Last Friday, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I paid a visit to Glasgow East Women’s Aid - an organisation in my constituency providing services which are, regrettably, much needed.

Everyone who works at the centre can be credited with truly changing hundreds of women’s lives across Glasgow. Their impact on the local community is immeasurable. 

However, it is difficult to describe the strange combination of emotions that I’m left with after meetings like this.

It certainly wasn’t my first visit to the centre but this occasion was no less impactful.

It was with a huge amount of sadness that I walked through the small meeting rooms, one equipped with a pop-up food bank and another with two small sofas for trauma therapy.

The room that stops me in my tracks was the children’s space. A room with a table in the middle, small chairs around it, colouring pencils and crayons in small pots, and paintings on the walls. 

I thought of all the East End children who have come through these doors - the violence they may have seen, the abuse that had become part of their everyday lives.

I continued my tour and discussion with staff, but I had a pit in my stomach and upon leaving the Women’s Aid centre, I began to feel frustrated.

READ MORE: Glasgow has 'third highest rate of domestic abuse in Scotland'

As a politician I hear harrowing stories at my surgeries. My caseworkers work tirelessly to help constituents in awful, desperate situations.

Many people might think that I should be used to listening to the myriad of issues my constituents face but the truth is that I’m not.

I’m not indifferent. I’m not apathetic. I can’t be.

I can’t look at my community, the place where I grew up, and not be moved by stories of the poorest and most vulnerable.

Issues such as poverty and abuse must never be normalised or thought of as inevitabilities. The moment we think of them as such, we forget that we have the power to demand and to create a better society.

I hope that I never stop feeling this indignation and horror - it is this emotion that moves us all to action and to change.

Friday also marked the beginning of a global UN-led campaign known as the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence; a campaign that I have made a concerted effort to play an active role in. 

So far I have met with organisations like Glasgow East Women’s Aid, I have spoken in Parliament, and I have done what I can to raise awareness.

I have used my position as an elected Member of Parliament to press the UK Government too, writing a series of Parliamentary Written Questions on a wide range of issues relating to efforts to stem the tide of violence against women and girls.

The theme of this year’s 16-day campaign is ‘Unite!’, which reminds us that it is through working together that change will come.

And although each individual can be part of this greater effort, we all must all start by playing our part in tackling the widespread scourge of gender-based violence however we can.

Police Scotland recently launched the ‘Don't Be That Guy’ campaign, asking men to examine our behaviour and the behaviour of our friends.

None of us needs to listen in uncomfortable silence if another man says something inappropriate about women.

For too long it has been brushed off as banter or locker room talk.

It needs to be called out.

Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss went viral online for a 2019 monologue in which he called on men everywhere to call out toxic behaviour whenever they see it.

If you haven’t watched it, please take a few minutes out to listen to this deeply impactful plea. It can easily be found online by searching his name with ‘talk to your boys’.

One very impactful line from his powerful speech is ‘there are monsters amongst us, and they look like us'.

If you’re a man reading this and right now you are thinking ‘but not all men are like that’, please realise that for so long as some men are, we cannot allow ourselves to be ignorant to these issues or to think that they have nothing to do with us.

We cannot afford to turn a blind eye.

Because as Daniel also very rightly points out, men can’t just sit back and think that if they themselves are not part of the problem then that must mean that they are part of the solution.

If we’re not all playing an active role in change then we are very much part of the problem.