Ran by Women Friendly Leeds and the Safer Leeds Partnership, our Women’s Night Safe Space is based in Leeds city centre every Saturday night, providing crucial services and a non-judgemental safe space for women and girls. Due to lack of continuation funding, Women’s Night Safe Space is now facing a threat of closure.
The Women’s Night Safe Space team provides safety guidance, medical assistance, free phone charging, support with ordering taxis, a safe place to report incidents to the police, and help signposting to longer term support. Women can also access free items such as period products, condoms, water, warm drinks and flip flops.
Women’s Night Safe Space has developed trust since its launch in November 2022, having a proven positive impact on women and girl’s nights out, including:
• Supporting a total of 1006 women
• Preventing 49 admissions to A&E
• Supporting 39 women to make reports to the police
• Ensuring 284 women get home safely
• Finding 43 women who were missing and alone
However, the future of Women’s Night Safe Space is at risk. The impending closure of the project would leave women and girls without the help they need; they would be more likely to be in vulnerable situations when getting home and less likely to access essential healthcare quickly, report incidents or seek help for the violence they may have faced. This means that services such as the police and A&E would be put under further pressure.
Shreena Gobey, Women’s Night Safe Space Co-ordinator, said:
“We are incredibly proud of dedication and passion of the Women’s Night Safe Space team and the public awareness they have built around women’s safety, but we are just scratching the surface of what this project can become. We are now urging the people of Leeds to come together and take action to save this crucial project and keep women and girls safe.”
There a variety of ways you can help:
• You can make a donation to support Women’s Night Safe Space, here on our fundraising page
• You can raise the issue with your local MP or Councillor, Women Friendly Leeds have created a template letter of support you can download here.
• You can support the movement to save Women’s Night Safe Space by following and sharing social media content via Women Friendly Leeds: (Instagram, X, Facebook)
