York has been rated the safest place for women runners.
In the last year, 349,000 more people in England have started running, with women accounting for the vast majority (250K) of that increase.
significant “safety gap” remains. While 24% of men feel safe exercising in public, that figure drops to just 19% for women.
Fitness retailer Ronhill commissioned research into which cities offer the safest perceived environment for exercise.
Violence data from the Office for National Statistics were analysed alongside female activity levels to create an ‘outdoor exercise safety score’.
York emerged at the top of the index with a score of 28.56.
Researchers found:
- York holds the lowest safety risk in England, with a violence rate of just 25 per 1,000 residents.
- Consequently, 71.4% of women in York are active outdoors, suggesting a higher inclination to exercise in the local environment.
- Outside of London, Brighton and Oxford follow York as the next perceived safest locations for outdoor exercise.
Ronhill’s research also acknowledges that official data often hides the extensive “safety work” women perform daily.
Though police-recorded sexual offences have risen by 8%, an estimated 95% of harassment incidents against women runners are never reported. This means many women are forced to police their own environments, constantly changing routes, clothing, or timing just to manage perceived risk.
You can read the full Ronhill report, which includes four strategies for the empowerment of women to reclaim the streets, here.
