Women three times more likely to suffer threats and acts of sexual violence and assault, report into hate crime finds

Women are three times more likely to be subjected to threats and acts of sexual violence and assault than men on the street, a damning new report has found.

The study, carried out by Citizens UK, recounts horrific hate crimes suffered by women, spanning from a Muslim woman punched in the face at a traffic light in Birmingham to a Jewish woman being smashed against the wall and threatened with sexual assault while being bombarded with anti-semitic abuse in Manchester.

Campaigners warned that although women are radically more likely to suffer hate crimes on the street, there is no proper method for them to report misogyny or for the police to record such information.

The report, which polled more than 1,000 people and ran focus groups, found those who are subjected to hate crimes are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts than those who suffer assault.

Rabbi Robyn Ashworth Steen, Rabbi of Jacksons Row Synagogue in Manchester who is a spokesperson for Citizens UK, said: “I’m sad to say that there are some shocking stories from my community ranging from misogyny, transphobia, homophobia experienced on the streets of Manchester.

“We’ve shared evidence with the government review that community safety remains a top concern — as women, as Jews, as people who are gay. This abuse sadly hasn’t gone away since lockdown.”

Researchers, who spoke to people in Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff, London and Manchester, called for misogyny to be recorded as a hate crime by all police forces.

Current hate crime law stipulates there are five strands which are kept tabs on: race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability, but misogyny is absent from this list.

Imam Abdul Basith Mohammed, of Newcastle Central Mosque, said: “Attacks against Muslim women are a clear and present danger and are having a hugely damaging effect on their wellbeing, and confidence using public transport or going to public places. This must end. We need a better reporting system to ensure people feel confident that they will be taken seriously.”

Nottinghamshire Police became the first police force to expand the scope of hate crime to include misogyny back in 2016.

Sue Fish, a former police chief constable who spearheaded making misogyny a hate crime in Nottinghamshire, argued the report’s findings shine a light on the need for all police forces in England and Wales to follow their lead.

Ms Fish, who urged the government to roll out reforms, said: “Making misogyny a hate crime was one of the simplest tasks I’ve ever done working in the police — and yet the results that we saw were incredible. Some of the feedback we had was that women, for the first time, described themselves as ‘walking taller’ and with their ‘heads held high’.

“In Nottinghamshire, we started rolling a small stone down a hill, and it’s gathering moss, gathering traction, and has the potential to make a huge difference to the lives of all women, and also men.”

Out of 46 English and Welsh police forces, seven forces currently record misogyny as a hate crime.

The Law Commission review into how to include misogyny in legislation on hate crimes, which was postponed due to the coronavirus emergency, will open for consultation on 21 September.

Sylvie Pope, who helped spearhead the campaign for misogyny to be treated as a hate crime, recently told The Independent police forces across the UK should immediately start recording misogyny as a hate crime.

Ms Pope, who founded the Greater Manchester Citizens misogyny hate crime campaign, explained the new measures do not create any new crimes but instead offer the police a way to implement prevention strategies. She said the campaign was not aiming to “lock men up” or drag them through the criminal justice system but was instead about prevention and awareness.

The campaigner said: “Misogyny is an intersectional problem. On an everyday basis, women are experiencing street-based harassment, violence and harassment in the workplace and domestic abuse. It perpetuates a culture where women don’t feel safe.

“Women from all different backgrounds face this. But women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds experience higher levels. They experience overlapping forms of hatred."

Labour’s metro Mayors have lent their support to a parliamentary proposal launched by Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, which is centred around making the police start recording misogyny as a hate crime.