Rhiannon Ingle
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape, sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence which some readers may find distressing.
The United Kingdom is seeing a documented rise in violence directed at girls and women.
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) states: "The harm caused to victims and society by violence against women and girls (VAWG) in all its forms – including but not limited to harassment, stalking, rape, sexual assault, murder, honour-based abuse, coercive control – is immeasurable."
The NPCC outlines that while men and boys also suffer from many of these forms of abuse, they 'disproportionately' affect women.
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The UK Government reports data which shows that one in five homicides is a domestic homicide and that over the last decade, there were 898 female victims of domestic homicides.
Of these, 698 victims (78%) were killed by a partner or ex-partner and over nine in 10 female homicide victims were killed by a man (92%).
A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK, according to the Femicide Census, which provides comprehensive information about women who have been killed in the UK and the men who have killed them.
Femicide Census highlights that men’s violence against women is a leading cause of premature death for women globally.
While research in the UK and Europe is limited and unconnected, the Femicide Census is able to provide detailed comparable data about femicides in the UK since 2009, including demographic and social factors and the methods men selected to kill women.
"By collating femicides, we can see that these killings are not isolated incidents, and many follow repeated patterns," the official website adds.
MP Jess Philips, who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls from July 2024 to May 2026, read out the names of women killed where the suspect is male between International Women’s Day 2025 and the International Women’s Day Parliamentary debate earlier this year (12 March).
"Today, for the first time from the front benches as a Home Office minister, I have performed the heavy task of reading out the names of women suspected of being killed by a man over the last year, provided by the Femicide Census. The statistics show that a woman is killed in the UK on average every 3 days – a number that is unacceptably high," she said at the time.
"Each had more of their life to live and was unfairly torn away from their loved ones, and each deserves to be recognised. The names on today’s list remind us we must do more, and we must do it faster."
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence to the national domestic violence helpline Refuge on 0808 2000 247, available 24/7, or via live chat, available 10am-10pm, Monday to Friday.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.