By Dr Larissa Engelmann, Dr David Rowlands, Dr Anna Barker and Dr Vikki Houlden. Published: 4 December 2024.
The UK Government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade, with police forces such as West Yorkshire Police prioritising it as a strategic goal. The City of Bradford District Metropolitan Council went one step further by developing a Women and Girls Safety Plan, providing a toolkit for local practitioners to address the needs of local women and girls. This comes in response to numerous high-profile cases of violence against women and girls in public spaces in recent years.
In this context, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre’s Bradford Mapping project is focused on developing a comprehensive approach to addressing the needs of vulnerable people. The first stage of this project revealed that vulnerability takes many different forms in Bradford and is a significant concern across services. While vulnerability is helpful for prioritising services for those most in need, it can also create misunderstandings between organisations, which may have different views on how best to support vulnerable groups.
The police play a central role in service provision networks and are seen as an asset in meeting community needs. However, the safety of women and girls is crucial not only for supporting the community, but also for maintaining the local economy, both during the day and at night. As a result, police, public and voluntary sector services are collaborating with private businesses to explore ways to enhance safety for women in public spaces and prevent VAWG. Improving perceptions of safety, especially in the city centre, is a challenge. The presence of other vulnerable groups, such as homeless individuals, can sometimes be perceived as threatening.
This is why the next stage of our project focused on gathering practitioners’ views on how VAWG is being addressed in Bradford city centre and how these efforts can be improved. We learned about local initiatives aimed at training staff to better handle VAWG issues, including the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign, the ‘Walksafe’ app and how park staff have been trained in handling harassment. During this process, we realised the importance of hearing directly from women and girls about what makes them feel safe or unsafe, and what they believe the police, local authority, and other partners could do to support them.
To facilitate this, we partnered with Safer Parks and GreenAWARE (Access, Wellbeing and Resident Equality) project teams, who are working on women’s safety, inclusion, and wellbeing in green spaces, as well as the Bradford Council Women and Girls Safety lead, to host a public engagement event at Broadway Shopping Centre.
The drop-in event provided women and girls from across Bradford with an opportunity to have their voices heard and to learn about the newly launched Bradford Women and Girls Safety Plan, initial findings from our Bradford Mapping project, and the Safer Parks project, which co-produced practical design and management guidance for improving the safety of women and girls’ safety in parks.
Over 80 women and girls engaged with us, sharing their concerns and suggestions for improving safety in Bradford. We also heard from some men who wanted to learn about our work, offering their views on both their own safety and women’s safety in Bradford. A strong sentiment emerged among those we spoke with: Bradford city centre still has many areas that feel unsafe. While the Broadway and Forster Square Shopping centres were generally considered safe spaces, many other public spaces were not. Using a map, women marked safe and unsafe locations, with red stickers indicating areas of concern and green stickers showing places they felt were safe.
When asked how the police could support their safety, there was a clear call for more patrols and a more visible presence, particularly in quieter areas during the morning and evening hours, when women often felt most vulnerable. Many women emphasised the need for the police to listen to their concerns and to avoid victim-blaming. It was evident that perceptions of safety in Bradford significantly affect women’s and girls’ daily activities. Many shared that they would not visit the city centre alone, preferring to go in groups and staying in well-populated areas where help would be more accessible. Parks without facilities, alleyways, bus stops and public transport were frequently avoided.
The Safer Parks and GreenAWARE teams asked women what would make them feel safe and welcome in Bradford’s parks. Women said that well-used parks felt safer, highlighting the importance of quality spaces that offer a variety of activities and amenities for all. Key features included the availability of toilets, good visibility, ponds and lakes, recreational facilities for children, social seating, and well-lit paths. They told us that parks should have a visible presence of staff and policing to provide guardianship of the space and offer help where needed. Some women saw parks primarily as spaces for children’s play and didn’t recognise them as places designed to meet their broader needs and interests.
Women also shared what made it difficult for them to use parks and green spaces, which varied considerably. Factors like the quality of the park, the availability of community facilities, maintenance standards, and the behaviour of other park users were mentioned frequently. Having to travel further to visit parks with facilities that met their families’ needs made it more difficult for some women to find time to visit.
There was interest in local initiatives, though many were learning about these resources for the first time. Fear was often linked to other vulnerable groups, like homeless individuals and those with substance issues, which illustrates how different vulnerabilities interact in public places to amplify feelings of unease. This insight highlights the importance of addressing the needs of other vulnerable groups in order to foster a greater sense of safety for women and girls. Understanding such intersecting factors and exploring ways to address them is a key focus of our work.
Next, we will reflect on these perspectives and compare them with those we gathered from practitioners. From this analysis, we aim to provide recommendations that incorporate the voices of women and girls, sharing these insights with local stakeholders to help shape future initiatives. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone involved in the event and to all the women, girls and men who engaged with us.