Women’s Safety: Walking, Wheeling, Cycling and Running

Anneliese Dodds Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jess Asato]

I absolutely agree. I firmly support the idea of a social media ban for under-16s, partly because of the huge impact it has on girls and their body image, which obviously affects the way they think about taking part in sporting activities, often in public. We also know that many of those girls are catcalled and whistled at as they come home from school, not just by boys their own age, but often by grown men. That has a chilling effect on their decision to engage in sport and other activities.

Last year, I was glad to invite Dr Caroline Miles, who researches the abuse of women runners, to meet the Safeguarding Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), to discuss the issue in front of us today. Alongside her colleague Professor Rose Broad, their research found that 82% of the women they surveyed had safety concerns while running, and 68% had experienced abuse while out running, but only 5% had reported it to the police. Of those who experienced abuse, 91% received it verbally, 29% were followed and 10% were sexually flashed—that is illegal. Indeed, very recently, a man exposed himself to a woman on the seafront in Lowestoft when she was out on her daily walking route, which has had a profound impact on her sense of outdoor safety.

The university researchers also looked at the 81 offences recorded by Greater Manchester police and Merseyside police in 2021 and 2022, and they found that more than 40% were sexual offences. They identified three areas where they think the Government could go further: improved space design, police training and challenging societal attitudes.

I am glad to see that the Government’s violence against women and girls strategy, launched just before Christmas, says:

“Well-lit streets, accessible transport, and thoughtful urban design can deter violence and reduce opportunities for harm”.

We now need to see national design guidance reflect the concern about violence against women and girls. The strategy states that tackling VAWG

“must be embedded in the training of every officer as a fundamental requirement.”

Yesterday’s policing White Paper sets out that the College of Policing, with the new national centre for VAWG and public protection, is currently developing a

“programme for frontline officers that focuses on the core skills needed to respond across crime types like domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking and harassment.”

I hope that includes harassment outdoors. The training should learn from the best practice that already exists across a number of forces, such as the Jog On campaign, as part of which undercover female officers posed as joggers to catch perpetrators. It is vital that we encourage women who are harassed while out running, cycling or walking to report it, and that we ensure that, in reporting it, they feel that they will be taken seriously.

[Anneliese Dodds (Oxford East) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend is making an incredibly powerful case. On the issue of reporting, I raised a written question with the Department for Transport last summer on what it is doing to improve reporting mechanisms for women cyclists who had been harassed or intimidated. At that stage, there was a suggestion that it might be covered by the VAWG strategy. There is an admirable focus on women’s safety on public transport, but does she agree that we need to do more to make sure that reporting mechanisms are amenable to women and girls who suffer abuse and intimidation?

[Jess Asato]

I absolutely agree, and it is one of the reasons why I took those University of Manchester researchers to meet the Safeguarding Minister. I hope that, given the VAWG strategy is a living, breathing document across a 10-year period, we can make sure this is in future versions of the strategy. It is incredibly important.

The long-term programme of awareness, training and behaviour change at the heart of the strategy aims to drive a societal response that empowers victims and deters perpetrators. In the medium and long term, that will drive the change we wish to see.