Safety as a smokescreen: The utilisation of women in right-wing politics

Image - Phil Hearing

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In the UK, we are witnessing an epidemic of violence against women and girls. In July 2024, the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) alongside the College of Policing declared it a national emergency. The NPCC stated that violence against women and girls makes up nearly 20% of all crimes recorded in England and Wales. Labour’s 2024 manifesto promised to halve violence against women and girls in the space of a decade. So far, pilot schemes have begun to embed domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms and to launch Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders. These new schemes work alongside the existing legislation of the Domestic Abuse Act of 2021 and theSafer Streets Fund introduced by the previous Conservative government.

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However, concerns about the safety of women are being used as a smokescreen to justify anti-immigration and racist ideology. In recent months, there have been an increased number of anti-immigration protests, many of which feature groups of people holding placards emblazoned with the words “protect our women and children.” Claims on social media have fuelled hate, with far-right activists portraying immigrants as inherently disrespectful towards women and attributing abuse and violence to “foreign illegal men.” These narratives have led to violence, as petrol bombs were thrown at the Holiday Inn in Tamworth last August whilst asylum seekers were inside. Many pose themselves as “concerned parents” claiming that they have no idea of the history of those attempting to claim asylum. Yet, would they apply such scrutiny to others around them?

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How much do those protesting actually care for the safety of women and children? At a protest in Bristol last summer, protesters gathered under a banner boasting the slogan ‘Save Our Kids.’ Following violent clashes with police, 60 people were arrested, out of which 41 had been flagged for previous domestic abuse offences - ⅔ of the group. Nationally, 2 in 5 of those arrested at these protests had previous reports of domestic abuse to their name. Such figures reveal how little the protestor’s rhetoric aligns with their reality.

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Despite this, support for these protests is great from the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, who has actively encouraged people to protest outside hotels housing asylum seekers. Farage has repeatedly made false claims regarding offender’s ethnicities as well as greatly exaggerating migration figures to stoke anger. The organisation HOPE Not Hate have recently claimed that Reform UK have a “misogyny problem:” appearing to hold Andrew Tate in high esteem, whilst James McMurdock MP (elected as Reform and now independent) was jailed for repeatedly kicking his ex-girlfriend.

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This “protect our women” ideology is nothing new and has been mobilised repeatedly as a feature of anti-immigration or anti-foreigner rhetoric throughout history. Following the famine in Ireland, Irish immigration increased and politicians and publications portrayed the Irish as a distinct race, responsible for drunkenness, theft and sexual degeneracy. Jewish men were depicted by Nazis as defilers of German women. Black men and boys in the US were lynched for even speaking to white women. It is clear that the far-right have a history of targeting minorities and playing on peoples’ real fears of criminality. Women are often treated as passive figures in this discourse, spoken for by the few to promote their hateful ideology towards immigrants.

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History shows us the consequences of buying into such ideology, less about protecting women and children than fuelling far-right policy. Is Britain falling for it?