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Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a national emergency.
And women and girls are all too aware. It's impossible to ignore the steady stream of horror stories in the headlines each and every day. There are countless cases of women who have been attacked on public transport, harassed on the street, attacked online or abused in their own homes. And to make matters even more chilling, 54% of women lack confidence that the police will properly investigate reports of domestic abuse — after all, there have been numerous stories about police abusing their position of power in order to harass, assault and even kill women themselves.
Between 2018 and 2023, there was a 37% increase in violent crimes committed against women and girls. As of July 2024, an average of 3,000 offences were recorded each day, with 1 in 12 women experiencing VAWG each year. Perhaps the most horrifying statistic? A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK.
And then there is the matter of the culture — studies have shown that a growing number of young men are showing interest in a far-right culture of misogyny encouraged by male supremacist influencers like Andrew Tate and, even more disturbingly, by prominent politicians.
But then there are the people working tirelessly to fight back. Meet ten of the incredible activists who are taking on VAWG in the UK today:
Ellie Wilson
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Ellie Wilson began campaigning against VAWG after being abused while at university. Her abuser was eventually sentenced to 5 years in prison.
“When my rape trial ended, I was left with a sense of injustice even though my abuser was found guilty,” she tells GLAMOUR. “I felt angry, angry for what I’d endured at his hands, and angry at the systems and institutions that failed me.”
She decided to speak out.
“I waived my anonymity in the media to expose those failures, but also as a way to reclaim my identity and refuse shame,” she says. “Media reports called my rapist a ‘talented athlete’ and spoke of his medical degree while I was a nameless body. Speaking out allowed me to tell my story.”
Wilson went on to become a campaigner, taking on the Scottish parliament and receiving the backing of the leaders of all four major political parties.
“I knew that all of my anger could lead to change if I channelled it correctly,” she says. "I didn’t want other women to go through what I did. So I used my pain to create change, and I’ve watched as policies I’ve pushed for have come into being. It was empowering. Throughout the world women are using their own tales of suffering and injustice to bring in positive change that helps others. It’s an honour to be part of that."
Gender-based violence is not inevitable.
Patsy Stevenson
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Patsy Stevenson first entered the public eye after a photo of her being aggressively pinned down and arrested by police during the Sarah Everard vigil went viral. The photo became a symbol of the criticism of the police force's handling of the vigil that followed.
But as Stevenson wrote for GLAMOUR later: “I was never and have never been the ‘face’ of the vigil, and I hate that rhetoric; it was a vigil for Sarah; we said her name a thousand times at the vigil.” After years of campaigning, Stevenson finally received an “apology” from the Met.
Madelaine Thomas
Madelaine Thomas created Image Angel after enduring her own experience of intimate image abuse. She tells GLAMOUR, "Despite the prevalence of image consent violation in digital society, there was a lack of prevention and accountability. I built Image Angel to deter potential perpetrators from nonconsensually sharing intimate images, and minimise the risk of others becoming victims of intimate image abuse.
"My mission is deeply personal: in an age where boundaries are often disregarded, Image Angel is a shield against the casual misuse of intimate and culturally sensitive images. It’s about sending a clear message: digital actions have the same consequences as offline ones.
"Image Angel is a step towards a future where technology protects, rather than exploits, our most vulnerable moments.
“I work so hard on this to stop others from going through that feeling of betrayal and violation. To help create a world where privacy and respect are not just ideals but realities. To leave the world a better place than I found it.”
Soma Sara
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Soma Sara is the founder of Everyone's Invited, an anti-rape movement organisation which allows survivors of rape culture to share their stories anonymously and find a sense of community within a safe space. In 2022, Sara was named GLAMOUR's Activist of the Year.
“Our broken policing system is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the culture of misogyny and sexual violence in the UK,” she wrote at the time. “|That’s why I started my platform, Everyone’s Invited, over two years ago. Since then, we've collected tens of thousands of submissions of rape culture in the UK. These testimonies expose the scale of sexual harassment, abuse and violence amongst young people and in society at large.”
Since then, Sara's organisation has partnered with NT Live to bring the play Prima Facie to a wider audience and to offer a space for people affected by the play to share their stories.
“The act of watching Prima Facie enables and encourages survivors to confront and share their own real-world experiences, helping individuals have the confidence to share their stories and underlining the need for a safe space for survivors,” she told us.
In partnership with the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn.
Elena Michael
Elena Michael is the co-founder of #NotYourPorn, a pro-bono organisation that fights to protect people from image-based sexual abuse.
“#NotYourPorn was born out of a need. We are everyday women who campaign (currently) without funding around our day jobs,” Michael tells GLAMOUR. “We are made up of survivors and those supporting survivors. We exist because the system is failing survivors – and we felt, and survivors felt, rage. We knew it was not our responsibility to do something about, but that we had to join the movement to do something to make changes.”
Image-based abuse has been around for a long time, but, as Michael notes, it's getting exponentially worse alongside advancements in technology and AI.
“As someone who has also experienced abuse in intimate relationships and in casual everyday settings like walking on the street, I’d be lying if I said my experiences haven’t impacted the way I carry myself in this world,” she says. "Abuse online or offline cannot be the default. I refuse, and #NotYourPorn refuses, to live in a world where we teach women and girls that violence is just an inherent part of their existence. We demand to live safely and we will not be quiet about it. "
In 2024, Michael joined forces with GLAMOUR for our campaign to fight image-based abuse.
“The time to act is now," she told us then. “A comprehensive system to tackle image-based abuse is long overdue. The Online Safety Act doesn’t go far enough, although it is a starting piece in the jigsaw puzzle. Survivors can’t be expected to do all the work to protect themselves even though this is essentially what they are having to do because of the gaps in the law.”
Jodie Campaigns
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Jodie Campaigns is a campaigner on Instagram also working in the fight against image-based abuse. She also joined us in our campaign this year.
“I’m here to advocate for change, starting with the fight against image-based abuse and deepfake exploitation,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “Right now, the laws protecting women from these violations are weak, and tech companies aren’t doing enough to stop it. We want to change that.”
Andrea Simon
Andrea is the executive director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, a group of feminist organisations first formed in 2005 that aims to change the political and social systems that enable violence against women.
She tells GLAMOUR: "There are very few of us who can say our lives have not been touched by gender-based violence, whether that's through our own experiences or those of women we know. Who can say they haven't experienced some form of sexual harrassment – and crimes such as rape, domestic abuse, and coercive control affect women from all backgrounds and all ages. This results in women placing additional restrictions on our own lives, and this kind of work can become automatic, so you don’t even notice you’re doing it. All of this is ‘the invisible safety work’ of women’ – taken to try and minimise not only the potential of being a victim but also to not be blamed for that victimisation. This has inspired my activism, and determined me to think my children will grow up in a different world.
"My approach to activism on women's rights comes from an understanding of structural oppressions which create and exacerbate inequality. Women can be subject to many overlapping experiences of inequality and discrimination including on the grounds of race, sexuality, class, and immigration status. This shows up when we see that Black and minoritised women who have been raped and sexually abused face higher levels of disbelief, and not being able to access the specialist support they need. Or asylum seeking and refuge women who experience domestic abuse having higher rates of homelessness, destitution and repeat victimisation. I want to work towards a society in which women and girls of all backgrounds live free from violence – and the threat of it – and there is a united movement to collectively disrupt oppressive structures and purposefully influence the political, economic, social and cultural changes necessary to end and prevent violence against women and girls."
Charlotte Meijer
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Charlotte Meijer is a survivor of sexual abuse who has gone on to be a vocal activist. She began campaigning for accessible court transcripts after experiencing the inadequacy of the justice system first-hand.
“As a victim of domestic and sexual abuse, I naively reported what happened to me, unaware of the trauma you, as a victim must endure, in the criminal justice system,” she wrote. “Coming out the other end I wanted to find out what happened, what was said, why decisions were made and what was discussed. I was advised not to sit in and listen to the trial after I gave evidence. Even if I wanted to be there, I would have had to sit on a bench next to my abuser’s family and friends. This means I had no idea what was said, nor did I have any evidence.”
Her campaign set out to give victims access to court transcripts , free of charge. She also campaigned for the justice system including the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) to update their legislation to “ensure that victims can more easily watch the rest of the trial safely, such as through a live link.” Eventually, the government approved a pilot, which runs until May 2025.
Learn more here.
Tate Smith
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Activist Tate Smith describes his trans identity as his “super power” – and often uses his experiences to advocate for women's safety.
“As a trans man, I’ve experienced life on both sides of the gender divide – and it’s been eye-opening,” he says. "When I lived as a woman, I faced sexual harassment, assault and everyday misogyny. Now as a man, those experiences are almost non-existent. I can navigate the world safely in ways I couldn’t before and it’s made me realise just how much privilege I now have and how important it is to use it.
"I’ve seen the rise in violence against women and girls and hoped it would resolve itself, but it hasn’t. Too few men are speaking up, so I’ve made it my mission to raise awareness. Men often listen to other men, and as a public speaker and activist, I’ve seen the power of leveraging male privilege to inspire allyship. I want women to know there are men like me fighting for change and showing that we all have a role to play in ending this epidemic of violence."
Annie Gibbs
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As a domestic abuse survivor and advocate for women's safety, Annie Gibbs channels her energy into driving change through Amour Destiné, a support service she founded for Black survivors of abuse and sexual assault – and as a Pioneer for domestic violence charity Safe Lives. She is a prominent speaker and activist within her London borough of Greenwich, and recently spoke on the issue of VAWG at the 2024 Labour conference.
She has previously said: "I want to make a difference in the lives of women and girls affected by trauma because of my own lived experience of being affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence. I felt if I could be part of some kind of solution it would prevent others experiencing things that I have.
"We live in a society where so many harmful behaviours, including misogyny, are normalised. Although we have seen a shift in recent years towards understanding what abuse looks like, and how men can also be part of creating a solution by calling out and challenging bad behaviours, we still have a long way to go. It's not ok for us to keep living in a society where women cannot walk the streets alone without the fear of being harassed, or the possibility they may not make it home."
Cally Jane Beech
Cally Jane Beech won GLAMOUR's Activist of the Year Award in October this year for sharing her experience of deepfake abuse and supporting GLAMOUR's campaign to introduce an Image-Based Abuse Act to support survivors and stop tech companies from profiting from their trauma.
She said, “The person who created the images of me would never in a million years have thought I was capable of this,” she tells me. “I think they thought the images would make me crumble, be very sad, be ashamed, and damage my career, which they know I worked so hard for... but I will always try and change a negative into a positive. And if it can help other people, then there’s no question about it.”
GLAMOUR is campaigning for the government to introduce an Image-Based Abuse Act in partnership with Jodie Campaigns, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Not Your Porn and Professor Clare McGlynn.
In partnership with the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn.
