Plymouth:

1,469 sexual offences were recorded – the highest in the Southwest and 7th highest in community groups across England and Wales².
Domestic abuse accounted for 20-25% of all recorded crimes³.

Nationally:

A woman is killed by a man every 3 days⁴.
Every week, 3 women take their own lives as a result of domestic abuse⁵.
And, every day, almost 30 women attempt suicide as a result of experiencing domestic abuse.⁶.

These are only the cases that make it into official reports. The reality is far worse. Across the UK it’s estimated that approximately:

84% of rapes

go unreported⁷

80% of domestic abuse incidents

go unreported⁸

85% of assaults on children

go unreported⁹

These often-hidden crimes continue because of stigma, fear, and disbelief – and because the systems of justice and support are not designed to protect female victims of male violence.

What about men?

This is one of the most common responses we hear when talking about violence against women. Trevi cares deeply about all survivors, and we support systems that recognise men and boys who experience violence. We know that all violence matters, whoever it happens to.

But this campaign, and Trevi’s core work, focuses on violence against women and girls because that is where the greatest concentration of gender-based harm sits. That focus reflects both the evidence and the realities faced by the women we support every day.

When we look at domestic abuse data, the patterns are stark and consistent:

Men are more likely to be the perpetrators¹⁰
Women are more likely to be the victims¹¹

This is not about blaming men as individuals. It is about naming a cultural and structural pattern that enables and allows violence against women.

Talking about the fact that most perpetrators are male is not misandry – “man hating”. It is simply data.

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1.6 million
women

experience domestic abuse
each year¹²

91%

of those convicted of sexual offences are men¹³

Most women are hurt by men they know

partners, ex-partners, fathers, friends, colleagues, or family members¹⁴

This tells us that violence against women and girls is not gender-neutral. It is gendered in its nature, its impact, and its roots.

The VAWG Crisis

Violence by strangers often gets the headlines. But for most women and girls, the violence happens at home, at work, and in their communities – in the very places they should feel safest. In fact, almost 70% of femicide – the killing of women and girls because of their gender – takes place in the shared home of the victim and perpetrator, or victim’s home¹⁵.

This isn’t a level playing field. The problem is not the same for everyone. It isn’t random, and can’t be fixed by treating all victims equally. We live in a patriarchal society, where legal, medical, and education systems and institutions still work through a gendered lens that preferences men.

During 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we centre women and girls because that’s where gender-based violence is concentrated, and where investment, accountability, and prevention are urgently needed.

This focus doesn’t exclude men. It simply starts where gender-based harm is greatest. But still, when women talk about the violence they experience, the conversation too often shifts:

Enough men have assaulted, harassed, intimidated or hurt women that every woman has to live as if any man might.

Women are not exaggerating, jumping on a band wagon, or being paranoid; they’re describing an almost universal experience. 97% of 18-24 year old women have experienced sexual harassment over the period of their lifetimes.¹⁶.

Being held accountable is not censorship. When speech excludes, humiliates, diminishes, or threatens others, it must be challenged. If the only version of manhood that feels safe is one where women stay silent, the problem isn’t women speaking. It’s the fragility of a power structure that depends on their silence.

Violence against men is real, and it matters. But it often takes different forms^17:

> Men are more likely to be assaulted by male strangers, in public places.

> Women are more likely to be assaulted by males they know, in their own homes.

The patriarchy doesn’t just damage women – it harms men too. Most violence against men is committed by other men, shaped by the same norms of dominance, control, and emotional suppression that underpin violence against women. Tackling gender inequality doesn’t just protect women – it makes everyone safer.¹⁸

Whilst women do commit violence, and harm by women should never be dismissed, the scale is smaller, and the forms of violence tend to differ from the broader social patterns seen in male-perpetrated violence.¹⁹

When looking at statistics, the landscape is stark: men are more likely to be the perpetrators of harm to other men, and they’re also more likely to be the perpetrators of harm to women. Women are the group least likely to seriously injure others²⁰. This isn’t extreme feminist ideology, it comes from police, NHS, and court data that – only fractionally – represents the lived experiences of a devastating proportion of women and girls up and down our country. Pointing to exceptions to avoid dealing with the pattern is not balance or fairness.

> 9 in 10 CEOs of large, listed companies are Men – they still hold the majority of global wealth and power.²¹
> Men are less likely to be victims of domestic or sexual violence – 72.5% of victims are women compared to 27.5% of males²²
> In the UK today men are, on average, more likely to enter the workforce with lower qualifications than women, but still earn more per hour.²³

What’s happening now is that just some of the many unseen privileges are being exposed – and named.

Where this leaves us

Violence against women and girls doesn’t persist because men are inherently violent. It continues because we live in a patriarchal society that too often looks away – that shrugs off abuse and disbelieves survivors.

Patriarchy isn’t simply “men in charge”; it’s a social system that rewards traits associated with control, authority, and aggression, and devalues those linked with empathy, care, and vulnerability. Violence becomes one of the ways patriarchal power maintains itself, and is often used to control, silence, and dismiss women.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

During 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we centre women and girls because that’s where the violence is concentrated, and where investment, accountability, and prevention are urgently needed. Not because men don’t suffer, but because women are more likely to be harmed, less likely to be believed, and still too often blamed for their own suffering.

We focus here because this is where the need is greatest, and where meaningful change can save lives.

Join the conversation as allies, in support and willing to take action.

See the pattern – and refuse to excuse it.

Listen to women and believe them the first time.

This isn’t just a campaign. We refuse to accept a world where women are harmed and then expected to stay quiet.

We don’t need more apologies. We need action.

Research shows that supporting and protecting women and girls properly would require around £516 million in funding. At present, less than half of that is available. The £321 million shortfall leaves frontline services stretched and thousands of women and girls without the help they need.²⁴

Join us. Stand up. Speak out. Believe survivors. Demand investment.

There is no excuse. Not anymore. Not in Plymouth. Not anywhere.

What is 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence?

It’s a global campaign that runs every year from 25 November to 10 December, connecting two key international days:

25 November: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
10 December: Human Rights Day

The campaign began in 1991, launched by activists at the Women’s Global Leadership Institute, and is now coordinated worldwide by the UN and civil society organisations.

Its purpose is to raise awareness, influence policy, and inspire action to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) – including domestic abuse, sexual violence, harassment, coercive control, and all forms of gender-based harm.

Footnote

No single dataset gives a full account of violence. Different studies measure different forms of harm, use different definitions, and cover different timeframes. In many areas, data is not broken down by gender in a consistent or detailed enough way to draw firm comparisons. Some forms of violence are barely captured in UK statistics at all.

Crime figures reveal the limits of the system – not just the scale of abuse. Rape and sexual violence rarely reach trial, for example, not because reports are false, but because evidential thresholds are high, cases are dropped or withdrawn under pressure, and many victims are failed long before a case reaches court.

These gaps are not neutral; they are part of the very structure we are trying to change. The absence of thorough, gender-specific data, and the failure to record women’s experiences accurately, reflect long-standing patterns of who holds power, who is believed, and whose harm is counted.

Even with these limitations, every robust source we do have shows the same pattern: the most serious, repeated and sexualised violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men and disproportionately experienced by women.

Sources

Where to get help locally

Support Plymouth Domestic Abuse Service (PDAS) and refuge

If you need support and protection from abuse call the Plymouth Domestic Abuse Service on 01752 252033 or the Plymouth refuge on 01752 562286.

Trevi
Trevi is a local charity offering a range of support for women. The Sunflower Centre offers a safe space for women to receive support and connect with other women. It offers a wraparound therapeutic service for any woman in need in the City. This could include: addictions, mental wellbeing, health, criminogenic behaviours, domestic abuse and social isolation. Every year, Sunflower supports and empowers more than 700 local women, many with complex needs and experience of trauma and abuse.

Should you, or someone you know, need help and support please contact:
Sunflower Women’s Centre | telephone: 01752 977614
email: office@trevi.org.uk

There are several national charities that provide support for survivors of domestic abuse. Here are some of them:

Offers specialist services, including temporary accommodation and community outreach, as well as a free 24-hour national domestic abuse helpline.

A national charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children.

Provides free confidential support 24/7 for those affected by domestic abuse and violence, and has independent domestic violence advocates who can help survivors through the criminal justice system.

I am a man how can I help?

M.A.N:Culture Plymouth is a group of men living and working in the city who have started an organisation to begin the conversations with men and boys in the city about violence against women and girls, to facilitate the difficult conversations needed to address male culture and to support the safety of women and girls in the city.

We are growing a Male Allyship Network who will provide the space to have honest conversations about masculinity and male violence. We believe violence against women and girls is a male problem and needs the male population to be part of the solution. If you want to know more about what we are doing and how to get involved, then email us at info@manculture.co.uk

M.A.N. CULTURE

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