Examining the Rise and Transformation of Violence Against Women and Girls in the UK

Key Takeaways

• Violence against women and girls in the UK represents a widespread structural problem rooted in gender inequality and power imbalances. Affecting millions of women each year, its scale and persistence justify its recognition as a national emergency rather than a collection of individual crimes.

• While violence against women is not new, the ways it is perpetrated have changed significantly. Digital technologies have enabled new forms of abuse, including online harassment, image-based abuse and coercive control, which increasingly intersect with offline violence.

• Deep-rooted societal beliefs about gender, consent and male dominance continue to normalise abusive behaviour. Online spaces have amplified misogynistic narratives, particularly among young people, reinforcing attitudes that contribute to violence against women and girls.

• Underfunded support services, prolonged criminal justice processes and low conviction rates discourage reporting and undermine survivor confidence. Although recent government strategies signal progress, sustained investment and accountability are essential for meaningful change.

Understanding The Extent of The Issue

Violence against women and girls is now being understood as a ‘national emergency’ by the National Police Chief’s Council. Violence against women and girls is not a single offence but an umbrella term that includes domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, harassment, honour-based abuse, forced marriage and exploitation. While these crimes can affect anyone, they are overwhelmingly shaped by gendered patterns of power which are disproportionately experienced by women and girls and predominantly perpetrated by men; over 90% of those prosecuted for domestic abuse, stalking or sexual offences considered male.

As of March 2025, domestic abuse, stalking and sexual assault affected 5.1 million victims in the UK. Meaning that one in eight women experienced sexual assault, domestic abuse or stalking between March 2024-2025. These figures alone illustrate how widespread VAWG has become, extending far beyond isolated incidents and instead forming a pattern of everyday harm experienced by women across all ages, backgrounds and regions.

Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that women are disproportionately affected by crime. For example, women are two and a half times more likely to be sexually assaulted than men. This gendered imbalance is not accidental; it reflects deeply embedded social norms, inequalities and attitudes that normalise harassment, coercion and violence against women.

The scale of sexual violence is particularly alarming. Between June 2024 and June 2025, approximately 200 rapes were recorded every single day. These are only the cases reported to the police; many survivors never report due to fear, stigma, lack of trust in the justice system, or concern they will not be believed. As a result, official figures likely represent only a fraction of the true extent of the harm.

The epidemic is not limited to grown women. Of all girls aged between 13 to 17, 39% are likely to experience emotional or physical abuse in a relationship before they become adults. This highlights how harmful behaviours are often learned early, shaping young people’s expectations of relationships and normalising control, coercion and violence before adulthood even begins.

VAWG also affects babies, children and young people. They are often harmed directly when they witness the abuse of their parent or caregiver. Authorities see alarming amounts of harmful behaviours among young people themselves. Many are harmed directly by witnessing the abuse of a parent or caregiver, which can have long-term impacts on emotional development, mental health and future relationships.

Taken together, these figures show that VAWG is not a marginal issue affecting a small minority. It is a systemic, pervasive problem woven into daily life in the UK, with consequences that ripple across generations. Framing it as a national emergency is not rhetorical exaggeration; it reflects the reality faced by millions of women and girls every year.

How Has Violence Against Women and Girls Changed Over Time?

Violence against women and girls in the UK has not only increased in scale but has also changed in form and visibility over time. While many forms of abuse, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, have long existed, recent years have seen a shift in how violence is perpetrated, experienced and recorded. Technology has transformed patterns of abuse, with online harassment, digital stalking, image-based abuse and coercive control becoming more prevalent and increasingly intertwined with offline harm.

There has also been a growing recognition of violence against women and girls as a systemic issue rather than a series of isolated incidents. As of 2022/23 VAWG accounted for 20% of all police-recorded crime, representing a 37% rise in recorded VAWG-crime since 2018. Improved awareness, expanded legal definitions and greater public discussion have contributed to higher reporting rates for certain offences, particularly domestic abuse and sexual violence. However, this does not necessarily mean violence is new; rather, it reflects changing social attitudes, greater recognition of harm, and increased willingness to label behaviours as abusive.

At the same time, prolonged criminal justice processes, low conviction rates and under-reporting continue to shape women’s experiences of violence. Together, these changes highlight a shift from hidden, normalised abuse towards greater visibility and acknowledgment, even as meaningful accountability and prevention remain ongoing challenges.

What Has Led to The Increase?

Violence against women and girls rarely happens in isolation. Much of it arises from deep-rooted societal factors that shape attitudes, behaviours, and relationships from an early age. Gender inequality outdated social norms, and entrenched beliefs about male dominance create an environment where abuse can take root and persist. In recent years, the rise of the digital world has amplified these risks. Online abuse, misogynistic content, and harmful material can reinforce controlling behaviours and normalize violence, creating a culture where real-world abuse is more likely to occur. Technology doesn’t create violence on its own, but it makes it easier for harmful ideas to spread, for abuse to be coordinated, and for harmful behaviours to be learned and repeated.

Source: Office for National Statistics, March 2024

The Rapid Rise of Digital Threats: Online Abuse & AI, Deepfake Technology

Online abuse and emerging technologies such as deepfakes have become a significant driver of the growing epidemic of violence against women and girls. There is increasing evidence demonstrating that violence experienced in the online space (i.e. coercive control, surveillance and stalking) does not remain limited to digital spaces. Instead, it often manifests offline, escalating to physical violence which can lead to femicide. As technology and social media become embedded in everyday life, the ability to spread harmful beliefs, attitudes and content has grown rapidly, creating new pathways through which misogyny and abuse can flourish.

This creates a platform for misogynistic content to be transmitted reaching global audiences with little oversight. Violent pornography degrading content and narratives that normalise control over women can be accessed easily and repeatedly, often without meaningful consequences. The ease and accessibility of harmful content creates a culture that normalizes abuse and control, which reflects real-world violence.  

Technology-enabled Abuse and Harmful Attitudes

Technology-enabled abuse does not exist independently; it interacts with wider social attitudes and beliefs. In an Ipsos report, 1 in 6 male 16–29-year-olds believe feminism to be more harmful than good, with young men are three times more likely than young women to call themselves “anti-woke”, reflecting a growing pushback against liberal attitudes, including feminism, among this cohort. The growing trend against feminism reflects broader resistance to women and understanding the scale of violence as a threat to them.

These attitudes are rooted in long-standing societal narratives that promote male dominance in relationships. When young men enter relationships having absorbed messages that position women as inferior or subordinate, controlling behaviours can become normalised. Male dominance and the strong belief that men and women are not equal can contribute to violence against women, in a belief that women are inferior to men. Behaviour intended to control women’s bodies because they are ‘inferior’ or ‘unequal’ are strongly correlated with an increased experience of intimate partner violence.

Deep-rooted societal narratives are dangerous and can be reinforced through criminal activity. Misogyny can be amplified and presented to impressionable audiences who believe the narrative – creating a global platform for the justification of violence against women and girls. In 2023, an online survey by Women’s Aid found that children and young people who reported exposure to misogynistic social media content were almost five times more likely to view physically hurting someone as acceptable if you say sorry afterwards than those who hadn’t seen such content. This highlights how harmful online narratives can directly shape attitudes towards violence.

Pornography, Normalisation and Escalating Harm

The accessibility of extreme violent and misogynistic pornography is part of the challenge of addressing online harm. Early and repeated exposure to such content can normalise aggression, coercion and dangerous sexual behaviour. Considerably, in a 2024 online survey, the Institute for Addressing Strangulation found that over a third (35%) of 16-34-year-olds reported being strangled/choked at least once during consensual sex. This reflects how practices popularised in pornography are increasingly appearing in real-world sexual experiences, often without full understanding of the risks involved.

Children are also being exposed to extreme content online at alarmingly young ages. A survey carried out by the Children’s Commissioner found that 10% of children who had ever seen pornography had done so by age 9, raising serious concerns about how early harmful messages about sex, power and consent are being absorbed.

Child Sex Abuse and Online Exploitation

The scale of child sexual abuse linked to online activity has fundamentally worsened. Police recorded 7,263 Sexual Communication with a child offence in the last year, almost double since the offence came into force in 2017/18. A survey carried out in 2024, showed that 91% of the reports received by the International Watch Foundation were found to have contained ‘self-generated imagery’, highlighting how children and young people are being manipulated, coerced or pressured into creating sexual content of themselves.

Challenging Harmful Attitudes

The Government Strategy aims to disrupt harmful narratives by addressing reinforcement through online cultures. Plans include educating young people about “involuntary celibates” (incels) and misogynistic influencers, without stigmatising boys, as well as increasing awareness of AI and deepfakes. The effort is to ensure that harmful influences are tackled and that young people engage with positive perceptions of masculinity and femineity.

Tackling dangerous attitudes before they become ingrained is crucial. Deep-rooted societal attitudes and outdated gender norms fuel VAWG and must be challenged. When harmful beliefs go unchallenged, they create environments where abuse is normalised and tolerated. Research from the Crown Prosecution Service found that only a third of UK respondents understood that false allegations of rape are rare, and only 42% of 18-24-year-olds understood that being in a relationship or marriage does not mean consent can be assumed. These misunderstandings contribute to under-reporting, victim-blaming and missed opportunities for early intervention. Without meaningful challenge to the cultural and digital environments that reinforce harmful beliefs, violence against women and girls will continue to escalate rather than decline.

Struggles for Women Facing Violence

Funding Pressure and Barriers to Safety:

For many women experiencing violence, leaving an abusive situation is not simply a personal decision but a financial impossibility. A concerning 62.5% of Women’s Aid Federation England (WAFE) services reported that between 2022-2023, survivors had been unable to afford to leave the perpetrator. The figure conveys the severity of economic abuse, rising living costs and lack of accessible support means that a lot of women become trapped in dangerous living circumstances.

Funding shortages are also placing severe strain on the very services designed to protect survivors. Women’s Aid’s 2025 Annual Audit found that three quarters (71.4%) of domestic abuse organisations running a service without dedicated funding used their organisational reserves to cover the costs and one in ten (15%) respondents had to close or reduce an area of work in their service over the past financial year. These pressures directly limit the availability of safe accommodation, advocacy and long-term support for women attempting to rebuild their lives.

Women’s Aid estimates that current government investment falls £232 million short of the £427 million needed to properly fund local domestic abuse specialist services in England and Wales. This shortfall is compounded by the lack of ring-fenced funding needed to sustain vital ‘by and for’ organisations, which provide culturally specific and trauma-informed support to women who are often most marginalised.

Barriers Within the Criminal Justice System:

Alongside funding pressures, many women face significant challenges when seeking justice through the criminal justice system. There were 7,703 rape flagged cases referred to the CPS by the police in year ending September 2024 (an increase of 12% compared to previous year) and 4,148 cases charged (an increase of 18% compared to previous year), with 2,432 convictions (an increase of 21% compared to previous year). While these increases may appear encouraging, they mask deeper structural problems that continue to deter victims from pursuing prosecutions.

Despite the increase, significant barriers to justice remain, forcing victims to withdraw from prosecutions. In the year ending September 2024, 18.2% of CPS prosecutions that resulted in non-convictions were because the victim no longer supported, or was unable to support the prosecution. Moreover, we are seeing a continued increase in the length of time to charge, with the most recent CPS data showing a mean average of 159.4 days for a charging decision.

Similar challenges appear in the case of domestic abuse. In the same period, there were 74,919 domestic abuse flagged cases referred to the CPS, representing an increase of 7.7% compared to previous year. In the same year 51,543 cases were charged, resulting in 39,499 convictions. The conviction rate was 75.2%, the lowest in eight years. Prosecution timeliness also worsened, with an average of 165.7 days to reach a charging decision - the highest in nine years.

Together, these delays, funding gaps and systemic pressures create an environment in which women are expected to endure prolonged legal processes while navigating trauma, financial insecurity and safety risks. For many, the justice system feels inaccessible, slow and emotionally exhausting -reinforcing under-reporting and leaving perpetrators without accountability.

Government Response: An action plan

In response to the scale and urgency of violence against women and girls, the Government has set out a national action plan aimed at driving long-term change. Central to this strategy is the ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, recognising that incremental reform is no longer sufficient. The approach moves beyond isolated interventions, instead framing VAWG as a systemic issue that requires coordinated action across society, early prevention to challenge harmful attitudes, stronger pursuit of perpetrators, and improved, trauma-informed support for survivors. Together, these pillars are intended to shift culture, strengthen accountability and ensure that women and girls are better protected at every stage. The plan is as follows:

1.       Whole-society approach - the strategy aims to commit to long-term societal change across each individual part of society.

2.       Early prevention – the government will aim to reinforce respectful behaviour but also teach children about healthy relationships, misogyny and consent.

3.       Pursuit of perpetrators – technology will be used to detect abuse and close the gap between perpetration and enforcement. Authorities will work to embed public protection as a specialism within policing so that VAWG is treated with top priority.

4.       Further support for survivors – a priority will be to ensure survivors and victims are supported throughout legal proceedings. The government will introduce a trauma-informed approach.

 Source: GOV.UK, December 2025

What has already been done?

The Government has already taken several steps aimed at preventing violence against women and girls and improving support for those affected. A key focus has been on early intervention and support for young people. Over one million additional children and young people will have access to mental health support this year in schools and colleges across England, helping to address emerging issues early and build resilience. These measures are intended to reduce vulnerability and prevent harmful behaviours from becoming entrenched later in life. Within the next decade, the ambition is that children and young people will be significantly less likely to become involved in violence against women and girls.

Education has been identified as a crucial tool in prevention. The Minister for Skills is exploring the most effective route to make Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) mandatory for under-18s in further education colleges. In the meantime, the Further Education Student Support Champion has launched a comprehensive RSE toolkit to help college staff address sensitive topics such as coercive control, consent and healthy relationships. In higher education, the Office for Students introduced a new registration condition in August 2025, requiring universities to publish clear and accessible policies for reporting, investigating and responding to harassment and sexual misconduct. These measures aim to improve accountability and ensure students know where to turn for support.

Strengthening Policing and Victim Protection

Policing reform has also been central to the Government’s response. Raneem’s Law will be rolled out to all police forces in England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, with the aim of improving the police response to domestic abuse victims. Under this model, specialist officers review risk assessments, quality-assure responses and advise frontline officers attending live incidents, helping to ensure that opportunities to protect victims are not missed. The scheme is already operating in Bedfordshire, Humberside, Northamptonshire, Northumbria and the West Midlands, where it is delivering potentially life-saving support from the very first point of contact. The intention is clear: when victims reach out, the police are equipped to respond effectively and safely.

Alongside this, the Government is embedding specialist rape teams in every police force in England and Wales to strengthen investigations and improve outcomes for victims. While the operational independence of Chief Constables remains a cornerstone of British policing, ensuring that all forces have the specialist expertise and resources needed to investigate rape and serious sexual offences is essential. These reforms aim to deliver a more consistent, specialist-led response nationwide.

Technology and Enforcement

Technology is also playing a growing role in enforcement. Since January 2024, the use of Live Facial Recognition by the Metropolitan Police has enabled officers to stop around 290 registered sex offenders and check compliance with licence conditions. Of these, 17 individuals were arrested for breaches, with a further eight cases resulting in follow-up action. The technology has also contributed to 253 arrests of wanted offenders, including 17 individuals sought for VAWG-related offences, three of whom were considered high-risk domestic abuse suspects.

Going Forward

The rise in violence against women and girls is an epidemic that desperately requiring urgent action. The contributing factors towards the increase - online radicalisation, inability to form healthy relationships and systemic failures – are heavily complex and urgently need to be addressed. On a global scale, the challenge is even starker - over 60% of countries lack rape laws based on consent, and 139 countries still do not have adequate legislation prohibiting child marriage.

The 10-year plan set out by the government adopts a whole society approach that seeks to intervene at every stage – from prevention and education to enforcement and survivor support. If successful, it promises stronger accountability for perpetrators, improved protection for victims, and earlier education for young people about consent, respect and healthy relationships. Combined with a more trauma-informed approach to policing and the justice system, these reforms aim to create lasting cultural change and reduce violence against women and girls over the long term.