The Girlguiding’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2020 found a “significant number of girls aged 11 to 21 feel worried and unsafe outside, with the number who say they receive unwanted attention when they go outside doubling across the age range.” This builds on previous reports (e.g. the 2017 report) which identified that 39% experienced having their bra strap pulled by a boy and 27% having their skirts pulled up within the previous week. The same report found that 31% of female respondents aged 13-17 years saying they had received unwanted sexual images or messages in the last year (compared to 11% of male respondents).
Our children have a right to grow up safe from abuse and harassment. Schools are central to framing a safe ethos and creating safe spaces for young people to explore healthy relationships, and there is a duty on schools to ensure they take action to keep young people safe. The concern around the level sexual violence and sexual harassment in schools led to the government launching a review in the sexual abuse in schools at the end of March 2021.
There is a strong movement to safeguard children and young people from harm by changing expectations, bringing forward a challenge to unacceptable behaviour and improving young people’s knowledge and understanding of healthy relationships.
