Curious Femme

“Women’s safety” has become one of the most emotionally charged slogans in modern British politics. It evokes fear, empathy and outrage, and rightly so, given the persistent epidemic of male violence and online abuse facing women and girls across the UK. Yet for some politicians, this phrase has become a convenient marketing tool, a moral shield used to gain votes rather than deliver real change.

Few illustrate this contradiction more clearly than Nigel Farage and his party, Reform UK. While loudly claiming to champion women’s safety, their actual policies and voting record reveal a systematic dismantling of the very protections that keep women and girls safe.

The performance of protection

Reform UK has made “protecting women and girls” a central talking point, often linking the issue to migration. But campaigners argue that this framing is less about safeguarding women and more about stoking fear.

The Good Law Project accuses Reform of “exploiting fears around attacks on women to stoke hate against migrants”, pointing out that “violence against women in Britain is overwhelmingly committed by men already living here” (Pink 2025). In Kent, it notes, “every single one of Reform UK’s local councillors voted down measures to tackle violence against women and children” (Fox 2025).

This selective concern creates a dangerous illusion: women’s safety becomes a rhetorical weapon aimed not at abusers but at entire communities.

Repealing the laws that protect women online

The contradiction becomes even clearer when examining Reform UK’s policy agenda. In July 2025, The Guardian reported that the party had vowed to repeal the Online Safety Act 2023, describing it as “borderline dystopian” (Walker 2025).

This landmark Act introduced obligations for tech platforms to curb child exploitation, intimate-image abuse and cyber-harassment — all issues that disproportionately harm young women and girls. Labour’s Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, warned that Farage’s repeal plan would “fail a generation of young women” (Rayner, 2025).

The irony is hard to miss: a party professing to care about women’s safety seeks to abolish one of the few legal tools designed to protect them in digital spaces.

Stripping away equality frameworks

Reform UK has also promised to replace the Equality Act 2010 and to scrap diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, branding them “woke bureaucracy” (Good Law Project 2025). Yet, the Equality Act is the very foundation of women’s legal protection in the workplace and education, ensuring maternity rights, guarding against sexual harassment, and enforcing equal pay.

Removing or diluting these frameworks would erode the limited progress women have made in securing safety and equality in public life.

Abortion rights and reproductive autonomy

In May 2025, Farage suggested that Britain should reduce the legal time limit for abortion, prompting reproductive-health advocates to warn of “catastrophic consequences for women” (Yahoo News UK 2025). Restricting abortion access has long been recognised by the World Health Organization as a public-health and human-rights issue, not a political bargaining chip.

When combined with rhetoric about family values and national strength, these comments reveal an attempt to re-centre control over women’s bodies under the guise of morality and protection.

Appealing to older women: the WASPI vote

Farage’s political outreach has not been limited to younger women. In recent years, he has also appealed to older women affected by the state pension age changes, known collectively as the WASPI women (Women Against State Pension Inequality).

A report by The Sun in December 2024 stated that “Waspi women are joining Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in their droves after feeling betrayed by Labour”, citing a survey of 11,000 women born in the 1950s that showed a twenty-four per cent rise in support for Farage and widespread disillusionment with the main parties (The Sun, 2024). The WASPI campaign has long fought for compensation for women who were not adequately informed about pension-age changes, resulting in financial hardship for thousands.

In June 2025, a GB News interview recorded campaigners asking Farage directly about compensation. His reply was blunt:

“I’ve never made any false promises to WASPI women. I’m sorry, it’s done, it’s over. It’s not going to get changed.” (GB News, 19 June 2025)

The remark exposes a pattern. Farage publicly acknowledges the injustice but declines to commit to corrective action, effectively distancing himself from the very women whose grievances are fuelling Reform’s rise in the polls.

The WASPI issue shows how women’s rights concerns can be politically instrumentalised. Support is offered when it aligns with populist discontent and voter mobilisation, yet no structural policy follows. It is a selective form of advocacy that offers sympathy without substance.

The illusion of safety

Across these examples, the pattern is clear: Farage invokes women’s and girls’ safety to project strength and empathy, yet his proposed policies, from repealing online protections to weakening equality law, would make women more vulnerable.

It is the politics of inversion: turning genuine feminist concerns into populist talking points while dismantling the structures that provide real safety.

As writer Rachel Taylor observed, “When Farage talks about safety, he means surveillance and control, not protection or empowerment” (Taylor 2025).

Why it matters

When politicians weaponise safety, they hijack a legitimate public concern and transform it into a fear campaign. For survivors of abuse, young women navigating online spaces and professionals working in health and education, this rhetoric feels hollow, even cruel.

Real safety is not achieved through fearmongering or deregulation. It is built through investment in prevention, survivor services, education and equality law. Without those pillars, “women’s safety” becomes nothing more than a slogan.

References

Colbert, H. (2025) ‘Dodgy statistics and fringe beliefs: the groups behind Reform’s anti-migrant agenda’, Good Law Project, 9 September. Available at: https://goodlawproject.org/dodgy-statistics-and-fringe-beliefs-the-groups-behind-reforms-anti-migrant-agenda/

Fox, M. (2025) ‘In Kent, Reform’s talk of protecting women is a dangerous illusion’, Good Law Project, 29 September. Available at: https://goodlawproject.org/in-kent-reforms-talk-of-protecting-women-is-a-dangerous-illusion/

Pink, R. (2025) ‘Why is Reform suddenly worried about women’s safety?’, Good Law Project, 26 August. Available at: https://goodlawproject.org/why-is-reform-suddenly-worried-about-womens-safety/

Walker, P. (2025) ‘Reform UK vows to repeal “borderline dystopian” Online Safety Act’, The Guardian, 28 July. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/28/reform-uk-vows-to-repeal-borderline-dystopian-online-safety-act

Rayner, A. (2025) ‘Rayner says Farage “failing young women” with plan to scrap Online Safety Act’, The Guardian, 17 August. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/17/rayner-says-farage-failing-young-women-plan-scrap-online-safety-act

Yahoo News UK (2025) ‘Farage abortion plans would have “catastrophic consequences”’, 29 May. Available at: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/farage-abortion-plans-catastrophic-consequences-103420644.html

Taylor, R. (2025) ‘Rachel condemns Nigel Farage for having no plan to keep people safe online’, rachel-taylor.co.uk, 18 August. Available at: https://rachel-taylor.co.uk/2025/08/18/rachel-condemns-nigel-farage-for-having-no-plan-to-keep-people-safe-online/

The Sun (2024) ‘Waspi women are joining Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in their droves after feeling betrayed by Labour’, 22 December. Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/32452146/waspi-women-nigel-farage-reform/

WASPI Campaign (2025) ‘Nigel Farage questioned on Reform’s position on compensation’, GB News interview, 19 June. Available at: https://waspi.co.uk/gb-news-19-june-2025/

GB News (2025) ‘State pension age: Nigel Farage questioned by WASPI women’, 19 June. Available at: https://www.gbnews.com/money/state-pension-age-waspi-nigel-farage

Good Law Project (2025) ‘Why is Reform suddenly worried about women’s safety?’, 26 August. Available at: https://goodlawproject.org/why-is-reform-suddenly-worried-about-womens-safety/