Tackling violence against women and girls

Greg Oxley; Harriet Samuel; Sally Lipscombe; William Downs

United Nations 16 days of activism against gender-based violence

The UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was marked on 25 November 2024. This year’s initiative aims to highlight that marked the launch of an annual 16 days of activism, which ends on International Human Rights Day on 10 December. This year’s campaign hopes to raise awareness about “the escalation of violence against women, to revitalise commitments and call for accountability and action from decision makers.”

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (PDF) defines violence against women as:

Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

The nature and scale of violence against women and girls

Examples of violence against women and girls (VAWG) include:

rape and other sexual offences
stalking
domestic abuse
intimate image abuse
female genital mutilation
forced marriage

Data published by the ONS on Crime in England and Wales in July 2024 found that in the year ending March 2024:

6% of women aged 16 and over were victims ofdomestic abuse
4% of women aged 16 and over were victims ofsexual assault
4% of women aged 16 and over were victims ofstalking
4% of women aged 16 and over were victims of non-sexual and non-physical partner abuse

Data published by the Home Office in November 2024 found that in the year ending March 2024, there had been 2,755 so-called offences in England and Wales. This data followed the police and Crown Prosecution Service definition of this type of offending:

an incident or crime involving violence, threats of violence, intimidation, coercion or abuse (including psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse) which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of an individual, family and/or community for alleged or perceived breaches of the family and/or community’s code of behaviour.

Data published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council in July 2024 found that over one million VAWG related crimes were recorded by the police in 2022/23, which is equal to about 3,000 offences each day.

The data also found that recorded VAWG-related crime increased by 37% between 2018 and 2023, with one in every twelve women a victim per year.

Several agencies have published information on the criminal justice system’s response to VAWG, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which has published guidance and policy on identifying and prosecuting VAWG and the College of Policing which has published a VAWG Toolkit and a national framework for the delivery of policing violence against women and girls (PDF)

There have long been concerns about the criminal justice response to VAWG, including the police’s handling of investigations, police-perpetrated domestic abuse, low prosecution rates, delays to court cases, and support provided to victims.

Conservative government action

The Conservative government introduced a number of measures to tackle VAWG.

Domestic Abuse Act 2021

In March 2020, the Conservative government introduced the to increase awareness of domestic abuse, strengthen support for victims and improve the effectiveness of the justice system. The bill became the and full details of the measures included in the act are available in a series of government factsheets.

Safer Streets Fund

In January 2020, the Conservative government introduced the Safer Streets Fund to tackle VAWG, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime. By August 2024, £125 million had been invested in the roll out of additional CCTV, street lighting and educational activities aimed at changing attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls.

Rape review action plan

In June 2021, the Conservative government published a rape review action plan which pledged to return the number of rape cases reaching court back to 2016 levels. The action plan also pledged to make sure victims had support and to improve timeliness of cases at each stage of the criminal justice process. Regular reports on progress against the actions have also been published.

Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy

The Conservative government published a Tackling violence against women and girls strategy in July 2021. It set out three ambitions:

to increase support for victims and survivors, ensuring they have access to quality support
to increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice, including an increase in the number of crimes reported to the police and increased victim engagement with the police and wider public service response
to reduce the prevalence of violence against women and girls

Full details of the strategy, including analysis on the progress made, is available in the Lords Library briefing Tackling violence against women and girls.

Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan

In March 2022, the government published the Tackling domestic abuse plan, which focused on prioritising prevention, supporting victims, pursuing perpetrators and creating a stronger system.

Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review

In July 2023, following Clare Wade KC’s Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review, the Conservative government announced that the Criminal Justice Bill would be introduced and would include measures which would The dissolution of Parliament took place on Thursday 30 May 2024 and the Criminal Justice Bill therefore fell and will make no further progress.

Private member’s bill on sex-based harassment in public

The Conservative government supported the private member’s bill which became the . This introduced a new offence of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress to a person in public because of that person’s sex or presumed sex.

Labour government action

Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged that a Labour government would “halve violence against women and girls in a decade” by using “every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of abuse and violence.”

To address low prosecution rates for rape, the Labour government has pledged to fast-track rape cases through the criminal justice system, by introducing specialist rape courts at every Crown Court location in England and Wales.

The Prime Minister has confirmed that spiking will be made a specific offence to ensures that “perpetrators feel the full force of the law […] empowering victims to report offences and giving them confidence the justice system will support them.”

To increase support for victims, the Labour government has announced that a pilot scheme will be launched in early 2025 to introduce domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms to ensure that reports of domestic abuse are treated with urgency and that “victims get the specialist support they need straight away.”

The Labour government has also announced that specialist rape and sexual offences teams will be introduced in every police force in England and Wales and that free, independent legal advocates will also be placed in every police force area from next year so that victims and survivors of rape have “support to enforce their legal rights”.

Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged that a Labour government would “relentlessly target […] the most prolific and harmful perpetrators of rape and sexual offences […] using tactics normally reserved for terrorists and organised cr

Labour’s 2024 manifesto also stated that a Labour government would ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes, strengthen the use of Stalking Protection Orders and pilot the use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders.