Pledge to halve violence against women and girls in North Yorkshire over next decade

We're exploring what it's like being a woman in 2025 - ahead of International Women's Day tomorrow.

Stats show over 1000 cases of rape or serious sexual assault in York & North Yorkshire last year alone.

Self-Defence Training

We went to a kick-boxing class in York, and met Bramina Braet.

She told us one of the reason she came along, was because she'd been sexually assaulted in the past.

"At the time I didn't have any background in martial arts of any sort of self-defence.

"It really spooked me and encouraged me to do something to protect myself, to give myself a bit more confidence, just so I don't end up in the same situation again."

'We are determined'

Jo Coles is the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime:

"I think it's really important that people in the Community have confidence in the police but also have confidence and feel safe in their communities and I think what can be quite difficult for a lot of people is to understand the scale of some of this. So one in four women will be victims of domestic abuse of some kind during the course of their lifetimes. Just last year, across York and North Yorkshire, there were over 1,000 cases of rape or serious sexual assault. The scale of this can be quite difficult for people to understand.

"Women and girls, we make up over 50% of the population. It's really important that we ensure that everyone in our communities are feeling safe, but in particular for women and girls, there have been particular crime types and particular types of behaviour that have been particularly problematic, and that is why I am determined that we are going to halve our levels of violence against women and girls during the course of the next 10 years."

"I think the challenge for us here in York and North Yorkshire is to ensure that we have got the right services to meet the needs of women and girls in our communities. So we've got big cities with large student populations such as in York, we've also got smaller towns and villages and coastal communities and also rural areas, and ensuring that we have support for those women and girls in all of those communities is really important because what works in one place will not necessarily be the same as what will work in another."

Where to get support

If you've bene a victim you can contact IDAS by clicking here or you can call 03000 110 110

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