London is getting safer but does it feel that way?
As of the start of 2026, London’s murder rate had dropped to the lowest it’s been in more than a decade, making the capital one of the safest Western cities in the world according to the Mayor. The statistics certainly paint a different picture to the viral videos suggesting London is lawless peddled by the far right on social media. 2026 is our Year of the Woman and as we’re focusing on female-led stories and highlighting gender inequality, we’re asking how safe is the city for women?
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is an issue across the UK. According to the Cross-Government Strategy to Build a Safer Society for Women and Girls, more than 150 women in England and Wales are killed every year, and one in eight women in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in the year ending March 2025. Refuge reports that one in four women in England and Wales will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, and that VAWG accounted for 20% of all police-reported crime between 2022 and 2023.
In London, VAWG is “endemic”, having increased across 2024 – 2025, with figures from the Metropolitan Police showing that in the 12 months up to the end of January, reported sexual offences rose by 7.4% compared to the previous 12 months. A Survation survey published in July last year found that 57% of women feel unsafe on the streets of London, rising to 68% amongst 18 to 24 year olds. The survey also found that 50% of women believe that London has become less safe over the past five years. The murders of Nicole Smallman & Bibaa Henry in 2020, and Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa in 2021, raised questions around the “rules” that women have to follow to keep themselves safe. As with Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by a serving Metropolitan Police officer, the murder of Zara Aleena in 2022 highlighted further institutional failings as it was discovered that her killer should have been recalled to prison after committing other offences.
All-female running group These Girls Run and protein brand For Goodness Shakes hosted a ‘Light Up the Night’ run in Clapham at the end of January to showcase how safety concerns limit women’s freedom to exercise outdoors. The run came following a survey of 1000 female runners revealed that 80% of them avoid running outside in the dark during the colder months, with 72% citing fear over personal safety as the biggest barrier. More than a quarter of women said they run holding their keys in their hands as a precaution, underscoring the fact that women still have to carry out “safety work”.
The term, coined by Professor Liz Kelly, Director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University, refers to regular, automatic behaviours – like walking home in a certain way or holding keys or a phone as a weapon – that women adopt to avoid and diminish the threat of violence. Remember when Saoirse Ronan went viral for her appearance on the Graham Norton show for commenting “that’s what girls have to think about all the time” while her fellow, male, guests joked about not thinking to use their phone for self-defence?
Not only does safety work imply that women are responsible for what happens when they don’t carry out these behaviours, it’s also restrictive. Dr Fiona Vera Gray, who teaches on London Met’s Women and Child Abuse MA, calls it a catch-22: “everyday decisions seen on the one hand as ‘common sense’ but on the other, as an overreaction. Panic too much and you’re paranoid; don’t panic enough and you’re to blame. It’s a constant balancing act between our freedom and safety.” Liz Kelly says it claims our freedom: “The necessity of safety work steals our time and our energy – being vigilant means it is seldom possible to just be in public space, to feel joy in exercise or noticing the changing seasons.”
The Cross-Government Strategy to Build a Safer Society for Women and Girls shows that the government is committed to making society safer for women and girls. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan introduced a Women’s Night Safety Charter as part of his Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy for London. Organisations that operate at night can sign up to pledges like training staff on how to respond to reports made by victims, designing spaces to make them safer for women at night, and nominating a champion who actively promotes women’s night safety.
In his refreshed VAWG Strategy 2022-25, Khan outlined that he would place a greater focus on education and partnership working to focus on prevention of violence, provide additional investment in support services, and take action to rebuild confidence and trust in the police and criminal justice system to ensure victims are supported and empowered.
As the Mayor works to make London a 24 hour city, and it continues to get safer, let’s hope it gets safer for everyone.
See more of our Year of the Woman content here.
