In a climate of increasing media coverage of abuse, harassment, and violence against women and girls, including the cases of Londoners Sarah Everard and Zara Aleena, Survation polled 1,528 women between 18th March and 3rd April 2025 on behalf of ITV News about how safe they feel on the streets of London. Topics explored include women’s experiences when outside in London and their perceptions of the authorities’ ability to address the epidemic of violence against women and girls. 

ITV interviewed the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, about the findings which can be viewed here. Most notably of the statistics, 57% of women feel unsafe on the streets of London, rising to 68% amongst 18 to 24 year olds. Additionally, 50% of women believe that London has become less safe over the past five years.

Out of those surveyed, 1,192 have experienced harassment, abuse, or assault from a man whilst out in London. The majority of women have received unwanted attention or been verbally abused. Slightly under half have been followed by a man and 3 in 10 have been abused online. Another quarter have been sexually or physically assaulted. However, 68% of these women did not report it to the police. It is possible that this is related to a lack of trust in the police: only 10% completely trust them.

It has become increasingly important to authorities to tackle the crisis of violence against women and girls. An action plan focusing on this issue was published by the Greater London Authority and Metropolitan Police in 2023. Despite this, any progress made and efforts to make this a higher priority do not appear to be felt. Just a quarter of women feel that the Mayor of London is doing enough to make women and girls feel safe in London. Over double this proportion feel that the Mayor is not doing enough. 

When asked what actions can be taken, just 2% of women responded that nothing can be done to improve women and girls’ safety. In contrast, 94% responded with what they want to be brought into effect. Most popular was more police on the streets (51%), tougher prison sentences for people convicted for violent crimes against women (41%), and more CCTV in public areas (34%). It is clear that women believe that there are more preventative measures that can be implemented to make tangible improvements to their actual and perceived safety.

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Get the data

Survation conducted an online poll of 1,528 women aged 18+ living in London on behalf of ITV News. Fieldwork was conducted between 18th March – 3rd April 2025. Tables are available here.

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