What we know about Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in Surrey

It has been nationally recognised that capturing the full prevalence of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in the UK is challenging and complex. This is due to many factors such as, limited, and inconsistent research across organisations, as well as the hidden nature of these crimes.

We are also aware of the barriers survivors face in reporting, these can include, the consequences survivors may face from their perpetrators, feelings of shame, fear, worry of not being believed, language barriers and in some cases, survivors are unaware that the abuse they have been subjected to, is a criminal offence.

Therefore, the true volume of these crimes within Surrey remain largely under reported.

UK Key statistics

• 27% of women had been subjected to domestic abuse since the age of 16
• 20% of women aged 16-24 have been a victims of stalking
• 9 out of 10 girls had received unsolicited images and been subject to sexist name calling
• 110 women killed by men in the year 2020
• 1 in 5 women are victims of sexual assault in their lifetime
• 1 chid is raped in school on every school day

Statistics from:

• Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy
• Femicide Census – Profiles of women killed by men
• Everyone's Invited

Key themes and data from Surrey's VAWG Police report

• There have been 15,874 VAWG Offences in Surrey in the 12 months (March 2021 – March2022), an increase of 3% from the previous year
• Steady increase of VAWG over the past 3 years
• Emerging trends of online abuse and harassment, in particular, male offenders targeting and exploiting girls
• The top behavioural concern for women in Surrey's public spaces was the feeling of being followed; secondary to this is verbal harassment from a group
• Proactive work and social media campaigns have led to an increase in reporting, however, we acknowledge that we must build trust in our services to ensure all survivors feel confident to seek support