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Can men do more to make women feel safe?

Chris Hopkins Political Research Director 23/01/2022

Three in five (60%) UK men say it is generally not safe for women to walk home alone at night in the UK, according to a new poll by Savanta ComRes for Good Morning Britain.

More than two in five (44%) say they have called out a man for inappropriate behaviour towards women

Only three in ten (29%) agree that men do enough to make women feel safe when they are on their own, while three quarters (75%) agree men should actively seek to alter their behaviour to make women feel safer.

The poll, commissioned by Good Morning Britain, coincides with the anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police Officer.

It finds that more than half (55%) of men say they have consciously altered their behaviour to make a woman who was alone feel safer, while more than two in five (44%) say they have called out a man for inappropriate behaviour towards women. Younger men, aged 18-34, are significantly more likely to say they have done both (64% and 57% compared to 48% and 32% of men 55+).

However, while most men report having altered their behaviour to make a woman who was alone feel safer, only one in five (21%) say they have ever asked women how they can do this and just one in six (17%) admit to realising that they have personally behaved in a way which may have left a woman feeling unsafe.

While the vast majority (84%) of men say they are concerned about women’s safety in the UK, only one in five (21%) say that men should take primary responsibility for improving this. Most say that the police (31%) or the Government (29%) should be most responsible, while one in ten (10%) say women themselves should take primary responsibility.

Commenting on the findings, Emma Levin, Senior Political Consultant at Savanta ComRes, says:

“The kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard while she walked home from a friends house in South London last March sparked a nationwide conversation about women’s safety in the UK. A year on, this poll indicates that most UK men are concerned about women’s safety and are aware that men have a role to play in helping women feel safer.

“However, attitudes do not always translate into behaviour and while three quarters agree men should actively seek to alter their behaviour to make women feel safer, only around half say they have consciously done this and just one in five say they have asked women how they can do this. Clearly, more needs to be done to convert male concern into action to make women feel safer in the UK.”

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