Violence against women a 'national emergency' as 81% say they feel unsafe walking in dark

Video report by ITV News Social Producer Cree-Summer Haughton

Words by ITV News Producer Hannah Ward-Glenton

Warning: This article features details of sexual violence and assault that some people may find upsetting.

"I had to run for about five minutes, which felt like a lifetime. It's the worst thing you can imagine happening."

Niamh, 20, is one of many women who have been assaulted while walking home - she is describing a time she was chased by a man as she travelled back to her flat.

"I think it is just that shock and just adrenaline and, you know, instincts or whatever take over because you're just fearing for your life."

"It's awful. I think anyone that's been in that position can say the same," she told ITV News.

It's clear that a lot of young women feel that fear.

According to an extensive survey of 18-25 year olds commissioned by ITV News, 81% of young women say they feel unsafe walking home in the dark.

ITV News spoke to a number of women who said they are scared to walk home at night.

Mel, whose full story features later in the above report, told us: "As far as I was concerned I was going to get raped, and or killed, and I was going to be found in the bushes. That's where my brain was."

Other women told us how they were used to being followed home from work on a nightly basis, leaving them to verbally, and sometimes physically, defend themselves to get those men to leave them alone.

"I would leave work anxious and scared after multiple incidents of being harassed and threatened just metres away from where I work," one said.

Many of them, like Niamh, work in hospitality, so typically work late into the night and cannot avoid travelling home in the dark.

But Niamh isn't only scared about walking home in the dark, following another incident in broad daylight a couple of months ago.

"I was alone and a stranger attacked me and there was nobody around... He tried to rape me, and the only reason that I managed to get away is because I fought him off, which was also horribly traumatic."

'A national emergency'

Newly appointed Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips has spent her career working with survivors of assault and abuse at charities such as Women’s Aid.

In one of her first interviews since taking the role, Phillips said she was not surprised by the fact that more than 80% of women are afraid of walking home in the dark, describing the issue of violence against women and girls as a "national emergency". 

She said: “The reality is that this government considers violence against women and girls to be a national emergency and a national emergency needs systematic change, not just paying lip service when something bad happens".

Speaking about the survey results, Phillips said she wasn't shocked by them: “I really wish that I could say that it did [shock me]... I actually expected it to be that more women felt unsafe in the dark if I'm perfectly honest.”

We also asked Phillips to watch our interview with Niamh and asked her how it made her feel.

“What it makes me feel is urgent and desperate to make it so that the very first time that Niamh comes forward and suffers, that services and systems are in place for her. But more so that we need to be moving every single mountain that we can to ensure that we stop the perpetration of that abuse," she said.

"That this is not something that should just be women's responsibility about where they can and can't go,” she added.

'She was walking home'

'She was walking home' became an often-used phrase after Sarah Everard was brutally assaulted and murdered in March 2021 near Clapham Common in London. The 33-year-old had been walking home from a friend's house when she was kidnapped, raped and murdered.

Her murder sparked nationwide fury and brought women's safety to the fore, but it's certainly not a new issue. In fact it's a problem that Mel, who was attacked ten years ago while she was travelling home from a funeral, says has "got worse".

"Walking home is still the number one thing I dread every single day. It affects the way I socialise, it affects my plans," she said.

In 2014 a man followed Mel, who was 24 at the time, off the bus. He jumped off at the last moment so that she couldn't get back on to avoid him.

Mel refused his multiple offers to walk her home, so he walked away ahead of her - down the only route between the quiet road where the bus had left her and her house. He sat on a bench waiting for her at the end of the dimly lit passageway.

"There were a couple of metres between the bench and the path so I thought if I could get there I could just run and make it to the main road," she said.

As Mel got closer to the bench she realised that the man was masturbating: "It was at that point that you're in a completely different territory because you realise this is actually somebody who is dangerous."

The man blocked Mel from walking the five-metre distance to the main road, threw her phone into the bushes, pushed her onto the ground and attempted to rape her, saying he had a knife that he would use on her if she didn't stop screaming.

"I don't know how long that lasted, I couldn't tell you any timeframes, but it was during that, as I was trying to hit him and get him off me, that then he was dragged off me."

Three off-duty police officers happened to be nearby and had decided to walk down the alleyway as Mel was being attacked.

"That was... A complete miracle. As far as I was concerned I was going to get raped, and or killed, and I was going to be found in the bushes. That's where my brain was," she said.

"Obviously I was rescued and he did not rape me... But it was pretty brutal."

The attack completely changed Mel's life.

"It's not just the fear thing, it turns your entire presence in public on its head - I think people don't necessarily think about the widespread impact of these things," she said, explaining that she had to change her public-facing name to prevent the perpetrator from finding her, and how that has impacted her work as an actor.

"It absolutely ruined my career... The impact is huge," she said.

After spending years campaigning on women's safety issues, Mel started working with WalkSafe, an app that alerts selected contacts if the user does not complete a journey and allows people to flag local hazards on a map.

The top three incidents reported on the app are catcalling, sexual harassment and groping.

Of course in an ideal world, apps such as WalkSafe wouldn't need to exist.

"Obviously people don't want to have to track themselves, but I do think it's a very good solution, to make yourself safer were something to happen."

"But I still have to have my phone and I have to track myself, and it feels... Really it feels wrong to have to do that."

The man who attacked Mel served a seven-year prison sentence for attempted rape.

Women have 'learned to live with it'

The idea that women should protect themselves while out alone - whether that is through tracking apps, avoiding wearing certain clothes, or planning routes or times of day for travelling - is something women grow up learning, Dr Jacki Tapley from the University of Portsmouth said.

She has spent decades researching and lecturing on criminology and victimology, and said the issue of not being able to walk home safely is part of a broader issue about male violence against women.

"[There is] a narrative that we're fed from a very young age that women should fear and anticipate violence from men. This is what has always amazed me, that it's our responsibility to protect ourselves from men," she said.

"In the 21st century, why aren't we changing that narrative to: Why did he attack her? Why are men violent against women? Why can't we be questioning men on their behaviour and expecting them not to abuse and harm women?"

"I think it's something that we've learned to live with," she added.And while there are many initiatives in place looking to improve safety in public, for example adding street lighting or changing the landscaping of parks, the fundamental issue lies with the behaviour of men, Dr Jacki said.

"It wasn't a shrub in the wrong place or the fact that Sarah [Everard] didn't have an app, it's because a man chose to abduct her and murder her - that is the problem."

Education needs to happen across the board, Dr Jacki said, from school age, to university, right up to workplaces.

"It's wrong to think things haven't changed and got better," she added, highlighting the better awareness of the threat posed to women and the improved systems in place to deal with those situations. "But generally in society, those public opinions need work."

Tackling violence against women and girls 'centre stage'

The new government has committed to halving instances of violence against women and girls within the next decade. 

Jess Phillips says that will involve prevention through education and awareness, with relationship and respect education in schools a key part of that, as well as “robustly going after the kind of people who perpetrate it”.

“I really, really hope that we don't just build up confidence in people like Niamh to feel that law enforcement and support services are there for her, but also build up fear in the people who perpetrate this crime that people can't get away with it,” she said.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Victims and Safeguarding Jess Phillips described the issue of violence against women and girls as a "national emergency" 

Phillips said the new government has put tackling violence against women and girls "centre stage".

Preliminary analysis by Women in Data shows that 70% of women in UK have experienced an episode of harassment or crime incident in the past three years (as of March 2024).

Women who have suffered abuse and assault – and that is the vast majority of women – will be watching to see how the government handles the issue of walking home, and of violence against women and girls more widely.

More crucially, it could also determine how many more women have to suffer experiences like those described by Niamh and Mel in the future.

ITV News worked with market research consultancy Savanta to interview 1,232 young adults aged between 18 and 25 between 9 and 12 April to obtain the statistics in this report.

The following resources are available for anybody who feels unsafe while walking home:

• WalkSafe app (allows contacts to be notified if you don't make it home and features a map with local issues such as poorly-lit walkways);

• Strut Safe (phone line for people to call while they're walking home).

If you have been the victim of an assault, you should the police by calling 101, or in the case of an emergency, dial 999.

If you or somebody you know has been a victim of assault, support is available from the following places:

• Voluntary organisations such as Rape Crisis, Women's Aid, Victim Support and The Survivors Trust;

• The rape and sexual abuse support line run by Rape Crisis England and Wales;

• A doctor or nurse at your local GP surgery.

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