Halving What?
Measuring VAWG.
Why Government metrics on VAWG must be grounded in reality, not just numbers
2nd June 2025
The government has set a goal to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. It’s bold. Ambitious. Necessary. But without a proper strategy rooted in lived experiences, trusted evidence, and equitable data practices, it risks being performative - another target on paper that fails to fully understand what is required to equitably understand, prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls. That’s why Imkaan, End Violence Against Women (EVAW) Coalition, Women’s Aid, Surviving Economic Abuse and Respect - have drawn up a set of principles and recommendations for how the government should approach halving VAWG. This sector-wide briefing has been endorsed by over 80 organisations and experts.
The briefing lays out clear principles and hard truths about the current state of measuring violence against women and girls (VAWG), exposing why existing metrics fall short of capturing the full picture. It highlights the blind spots in data collection - such as the exclusion of experiences faced by Black and minoritised women and girls - and challenges the overreliance on criminal justice statistics that miss the broader social, economic, and systemic factors at play. Importantly, this briefing also calls for a fundamental shift: developing new measurement approaches that centre the lived realities of those most affected; ensuring data drives policy that is inclusive, responsive, and effective in truly halving VAWG. It’s a call to policymakers and experts to rethink how success is defined, tracked, and achieved in this vital mission.
—-> We have discussed our perspective on how VAWG is measured, the inequalities in funding, and what shaped our approach to contributing to this briefing - below.
What We’re Really Talking About When We Talk About "Measuring VAWG"
Some key gaps that must be addressed:
Black and minoritised women are consistently missing from official data.
Our members - frontline Black and minoritised ‘by and for’ organisations - have the lived and professional expertise to reach the most marginalised and socially excluded communities. But without resourcing to build robust data systems, this knowledge is underused and underfunded.
Current data is overly reliant on police and criminal justice stats, which are incomplete. inconsistent, and shaped by systemic racism, misogyny, and underreporting.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) and Crime Survey data leaves out whole groups - including women and girls in detention, temporary asylum accommodation, or those who are undocumented or rough-sleeping, young, older and disabled groups are hidden within official statistics - further rendering the most marginalised invisible.
We need to look at support needs and outcomes, not just incidents. How are Black and minoritised women and girls’ lives improving when they access services? What change is happening through access to Black and minoritised specialist support, who is falling through the gaps and where and how do we need to target resources? These are the real indicators of progress - and they must be tracked.
What We’re Calling For
The briefing outlines a number of urgent changes needed if we are to meaningfully measure progress on ending VAWG. Some of the core recommendations include:
Grounding metrics in feminist, intersectional, anti-racist principles and whole system and cross governmental approach. .
Funding for Black and minoritised specialist services, especially Black and minoritised ‘by and for’ organisations, to collect and analyse data that reflects their unique communities and responses to VAWG.
Better disaggregation of data - including race, disability, age, immigration status - so we stop hiding behind ‘gender-neutral’ stats that ignore compounded harm.
Independent monitoring and scrutiny, so that progress isn’t just a political soundbite.
Meaningful consultation with the sector, including smaller, specialist “by and for” organisations, not just large and mainstream institutions.
Improved data on perpetrators, not just survivors, to identify patterns and prevent future harm.
We also urge the government to move away from relying solely on quantitative data and criminal justice systems. Instead, they must centre qualitative, survivor-led data gathered by services women and girls trust - often small, local, ‘by and for’ ones; which are mainly underfunded organisations on the frontline.
A snapshot of Research & Evidence
These aren’t ‘new’ findings. But Imkaan’s reports over the last two years alone have presented the stark realities of systemic failures, exposed the compounded risks faced by Black and minoritised women and girls, and made clear just how far government data falls short in accurately capturing - and therefore adequately responding to - their experiences. To name a few:
‘Not Safe Here’ - our joint report with Rape Crisis, which examined the failures in asylum accommodation for survivors. This report highlights how the UK’s broken asylum system retraumatises women and girls, exposing them to further abuse, neglect, and systemic harm. Sexual and gender-based violence is estimated to affect up to 70% of women who have forcibly migrated.
‘Why Should Our Rage Be Tidy?’ - our report with Women and Girls Network (WGN) and Professor Ravi Thiara of the University of Warwick, which explored the intersection of mental health, trauma, and violence for Black and minoritised women and girls. It underscores how trauma is amplified by structural inequalities, social stigma, and institutional neglect, and exposes the dismissive and fragmented response of both statutory and specialist services; as well as the vital role of trauma informed specialist Black and minoritised led VAWG organisations.
‘Life or Death?’ - our report with Centre for Women’s Justice that delves into the unique and compounding barriers Black and minoritised women face when seeking protection from domestic abuse. It highlights how state failures by police and other services, against a backdrop of intersecting race and sex discrimination, have contributed to the tragic deaths of Black and minoritised women and girls.
Each of these reports spotlights critical failures in how the state captures, responds to, and funds support for Black and minoritised women and girl survivors of violence.
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From the lack of ethnic data disaggregation to the erasure of survivor-led outcomes, to gaps in data sharing and systemic accountability - the issues are well documented and persistent.
But it’s not just about poor data. It’s about the deliberate defunding of the very organisations best placed to understand and respond to that data. ‘By and for’ organisations are consistently assessed through ‘white metrics’ that ignore their community-rooted expertise, in-house interpretation, and cultural knowledge. Funding structures prioritise cost over social value, and mainstream providers continue to dominate the sector financially. Funding has never been equitable.
In 2017, 25 ‘by and for’ orgs had a combined turnover of £10 million. Ten mainstream VAWG orgs (excluding the largest independent women’s provider) held £26 million between them. Over half of ‘by and for’ refuges have been forced to close, in the last decade. This is not just inequality - it’s an existential threat.
That’s why we are calling for a specific, ring-fenced funding pot to sustain Black and minoritised ‘by and for’ VAWG services over the next three years of the Spending Review. And an end to the competitive, one-size-fits-all tendering system that continues to push these essential services to the margins.
This new briefing builds directly on this body of work - strengthening our calls for action and accountability, reinforcing what we’ve said time and time again: If you’re not counting us, you’re not protecting us. And if you’re not funding us - it's clear we’re not your priority.
You can’t fix what you won’t measure.
You can’t measure what you won’t fund.
You can’t fund what you refuse to see.
So, if the government is serious about halving - and ultimately ending - VAWG, then ALL survivors must be seen, counted, and supported through properly funded services.
Anything less is a conscious choice - a declaration - that not all women, not all realities, not all communities count.
The Next Steps?
Imkaan will be championing the need for Black and minoritised women and girls to be explicitly considered and prioritised in all data strategies. That includes recognising the strength and insight of our member Black and minoritised ‘by and for’ organisations, and the communities they serve.
Because if we’re not measuring the right things - in the right ways - then what exactly are we halving? And how?
A Note on Signatories
This briefing is supported by over 80 organisations and experts in the VAWG sector, including Imkaan and many of our ‘by and for’ member organisations with direct frontline experience of this crisis. This collective voice represents a shared commitment to accurate, ethical, and survivor-centred measurement of progress - because data that doesn’t include us, fails us.