Rise in Violence Against Woman and Girls in the UK

This rise in violence against woman and girls has been called a National Emergency and is worryingly on the rise in the UK.  

VAWG or Violence against Woman and Girls is an umbrella terms used to cover a wide range of abuse types that affects more woman and girls than men and boys.

Statistics 

The National Policing statement for VAWG (violence against woman and girls) commissioned by the National Police Chief’ Council and College of Policing found that:

• Over one million VAWG related crimes were recorded during 2022/2023 accounting for 20% of all police recorded crimes. 
• Police recorded VAWG related crime increased by an alarming 37% over the last 5 years.  
• At least 1 in every 12 women will be a victim per year, with the exact number expected to be much higher.  
• Child sexual abuse and exploitation increased by more than 400% between 2013 and 2022. 

The British Transport Police Authority published similar figures showing a rise by 20% of violent crimes against woman and girls on the transport network, more than 11,000 complaints were made, a shocking average of 31 violent crimes per day.

Femicide, the term used for the killing of woman and girls, is also reported to be on the rise, a woman is killed by a man every 3 days on average in the UK.  

Many woman know their attacker and often, it is their partner or a family member. Recent media articles have highlighted this with the murder of 10 year old Sara Sharif by her father.  Sara was believed to have been abused for weeks and weeks before she was killed. 

Action

25th November is the International Day for Elimination of Violence against Woman, which is also the first day of the campaign 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence which is running from 25th November to 10th December 2024.