Women are far more likely to regularly take measures to avoid harassment than men

The murder of Sarah Everard prompted a widespread debate about women's safety in society. It led to calls for better male education, more police deployed to the streets, and a push to make misogyny a hate crime. A year on from the murder, Home Secretary Priti Patel has said “for too long, the responsibility of keeping safe has been placed on the shoulders of women and girls” as part of a new campaign aimed at cutting violence against women.

As part of a wider investigation into women’s safety in society, new YouGov research conducted with the BBC reveals the stark differences between the steps men and women regularly take to protect themselves from sexual harassment.

Over half of women (57%) say they regularly share their location or let someone know their schedule to feel less at risk of harassment or assault. By comparison, only 15% of men say they do the same – a 42-point difference.

Another 56% of women, compared to 29% of men, say they avoid certain areas or roads to keep themselves safe. Additionally, 53% of women avoid being out at certain times, with only 16% of men saying they keep to a similar self-imposed curfew for the sake of safety. A further 51% of women will cross the road to avoid people they do not know, while only 22% of men do the same.

Two in five women (44%) say they regularly hold keys or another personal item as an improvised form of self-defence – four times the number of men who do so (11%).

Around a third (37%) will avoid listening to music or podcasts to be better aware of their surroundings, while the same proportion will try not to be outside alone. Again, men are much less likely to regularly take such precautions (8% and 12%, respectively).

Staying on the phone to someone is commonly recommended to those walking alone at night, with 34% of women regularly doing so. This behaviour is much higher among younger women (51% of those aged 18 to 29) versus 17% of those aged 60 and over. Only 5% of men phone others to keep themselves safe.

Three in ten women will also check the area around their car before getting in (31%), take public transport instead of walking, and wear flat shoes (30% each). A further quarter of women (25%) will limit how much they drink, and 21% avoid dressing in a certain way to avoid harassment and assault. Finally, 8% regularly carry a personal alarm, and 7% have learnt self-defence skills.

See full results here