MORE needs to be done to raise awareness about violence against women, according to a Bolton MP.

Julie Hilling, who represents Bolton West, has pledged her backing to One Billion Rising.

Thousands of people across Britain got together at 150 different events and.Ms Hilling joined campaigners in Parliament as MPs also debated a motion calling on the Government to make relationship education a requirement in schools.

Ms Hilling said: “When we live in a country where 750,000 children witness acts of domestic abuse a year and a third of girls in relationships aged 13 to 17 have experienced physical or sexual violence in relationships, when one in three women will be beaten or raped in her lifetime, it’s time for all of us to stand up and say enough.”

Speaking in the Commons, former youth worker Ms Hilling said two women are killed every week in the UK and outlined stories of women and girls she had previously worked with, who had blamed themselves for being beaten or abused.

Ms Hilling said during her time as a youth worker she was shocked at how young people got much of their understanding of sex and relationship issues.

She told the Commons: “Just think about where young people currently get much of their education about sex and relationships.

“Some may come from parents but much more will come from peers and pornography.

“When I worked with young people, I was horrified by the publications they were reading and the films they were watching.”

A 2010 YouGov poll found that almost a third of 16-18-year-old girls said they had been subjected to unwanted sexual touching at school, and the NSPCC found that a third of girls in relationships aged 13-17 had experienced physical or sexual violence in relationships, while one in 16 said they had been raped.