A crowd of 100 protestors gathered in Sheffield’s Peace Gardens for International Women’s Day and called for the government to fight harder against gender-based violence in the UK.
Sheffield Women’s Collective (SWC), a grassroots feminist organisation founded in 2025, organised the candlelit vigil to honour the 108 women who lost their lives to gender-based violence in 2025.
Amber Millar, 28, co-founder of SWC, said: “International Women’s Day is not just a celebration; it’s a call to action.
“Across the world women and girls experience domestic abuse, sexual violence, coercive control, harassment, trafficking, and femicide. They are not isolated incidents; they are patterns of behaviour.”
This International Women’s Day follows Labour’s unveiling of their Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy which aims to halve offences against women within a decade.
But with the volume of sexual offences recorded by the police increasing over the last decade, and 192 violent and sexual offences recorded in Sheffield in January 2026 alone, many people feel systemic reform is the only solution.
Skye Turner, 21, co-founder of SWC said: “Let’s be clear: femicide isn’t something that happens elsewhere. It happens here too, in the UK, in our communities, in our streets, and in our homes.
“Each name represents a preventable loss. Each name reminds us why this conversation cannot end when the vigil does.”
The vigil was attended by guest speakers from grassroots organisations across the South Yorkshire area, including Ms Flo Rushton, co-founder of Catcalls of Sheffield, and Zlakha Ahmed MBE, CEO of Apna Haq, who both noted the growing urgency of tackling violence against women in the UK.
Ms Rushton, 21, said: “It’s all too normalised we hear about the people who have had their lives taken at the hands of male violence – this vigil provides an important opportunity to honour their lives.”
A number of students at both the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University were also present at the vigil.
When asked what the UK government should do to tackle the epidemic of violence against women, Miss Anisa Alavi, 19, a student, said: “Systemic change. It feels like the government is not doing nearly enough.”
You can follow SWC and learn about future events on their Instagram:
@sheffieldwomenscollective
