'Tackling violence against women and girls on transport' webinar

By Jane Tewson / Updated: 15 Nov 2022
Wednesday 23 November 2022, 11:00 to 12:30
United Kingdom
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Back in 2021, the UK government chose two senior officers from Transport for West Midlands – Laura Shoaf, Chief Executive and Anne Shaw, Executive Director – to lead efforts to tackle violence against women and girls on transport. They were the UK's first Violence Against Women and Girls Transport Champions, part of a wider campaign to tackle violence against women and girls.

Join Transport Champion Anne Shaw plus a panel of experts at this webinar, "Tackling violence against women and girls on transport: where are we now?" on Wednesday 23 November 2022 at 11:00-12:30 (UTC+00:00) to explore how the campaign is developing, and what the next steps will be.

A set of recommendations on making the transport network safer for women and girls was published in March 2022 and highlighted some key areas for focus:

  • UK GDP is severely impacted by women and girls not taking up employment or training opportunities due to fears about travel. Around 4% of GDP is lost because of this
  • Little thought is given to how women use and perceive public transport despite being the predominant user group
  • More needs to be done to ensure the design of transport services includes appropriate surveillance, lighting, and parking provisions

A pilot tool, StreetSafe, which enables the public to anonymously report areas where they feel unsafe, was also launched.

These recommendations followed findings that almost half of women have felt threatened when travelling on public transport, stopping them from accessing opportunities such as education and employment as well as socialising.

In July 2022, £50m of UK government funding was announced for communities across England and Wales in the fourth round of the Safer Streets Fund.

Many of the Transport Champions' recommendations were put in place during the Commonwealth Games:

  • new or improved physical infrastructure
  • better and safer public spaces
  • accelerated investment in camera and communications technology
  • closer partnership working across agencies to enhance security

The pioneering Safer Travel Partnership, for example, is a collaboration between West Midlands Police, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and British Transport Police.

Register for the webinar, here.