Honouring killed women in Parliament on International Women's Day

This week, in Parliament, the names of women killed, or suspected to have been killed, by men over the last year were read aloud by the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips.

For the 11th year, the minister carried out the sombre act around International Women's Day, ensuring the women behind the statistics are named, remembered, and honoured.

This year, the list contained 110 names.

That's 110 lives taken, 110 futures never lived, 110 families missing a loved one.

Their ages span from 17 to 93. Some are listed only as "unnamed".

Together, they reflect women from every background and every walk of life. They are a stark reminder that for too long violence against women and girls has been treated as a fact of life, with deadly consequences. That's why the government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency and is taking urgent action to tackle this issue.

Reading the names in Parliament is deeply symbolic. Parliament is where laws are made, and it is right that the women who lost their lives to male violence are named there, in the place where change must happen. So, by taking this message to the heart of British democracy, Jess Phillips continues to open eyes to the dark reality that so many women and girls face every day.

Over the years, the list has not only borne witness to the scale of violence against women and girls - it has driven action.

Remembering and honouring these women must mean taking radical steps to make this country safe for women and girls.

Separately, the government is also stepping up action to stop violence before it happens.

Project Vigilant has been strengthened in nine police forces, boosting plain-clothes patrols in night-time hotspots to identify and disrupt predatory behaviour, including persistently following someone, harassment and spiking.

Backed by an additional £1 million in funding, police will deliver hundreds of extra deployments, stopping dangerous behaviour early and making clear that responsibility lies with perpetrators, not women.

On top of this, today in Parliament, Jess Phillips also announced plans to set up and fund a new system to ensure Domestic Homicide Review recommendations are acted on.

This will help turn lessons into action and drive the meaningful change needed to better support victims of domestic abuse and prevent further horrific deaths.

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips said:

Today, as I do every year, I carry out the heavy task of reading out the names of every woman suspected of being killed by a man over the last year. This is a day that never gets easier.

But today isn't my moment. This moment belongs to the women who have paid with their lives because of our collective failure to protect them from harm.

So, we will continue to honour these women with every action we take. We will deploy the full power of the state to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.

This comes amid troubling new data from the Femicide Census charity which shows the shocking number of parents killed by their own children. This concerning data has led to calls for greater focus to be placed on tackling this issue.

Karen Ingala Smith, co-founder of the Femicide Census said:

This year, amongst the 110 names were 19 women who were killed by their son or where their son is the suspect. That's almost 1 in 5 women killed by men in 2025 being suspected as mothers killed by their sons. It is critical that our understanding of which women are at risk from which men reflects reality and that the police, health, social and specialist services for women are equipped and resourced to respond accordingly.

The Femicide Census provides a unique and chilling picture of men's fatal violence in the UK. This is the 11th year that Minister Phillips has read out in Parliament the names of women killed by men or where a male suspect has been identified in relation to a woman's death.

We are grateful to her for amplifying our work, commemorating victims and ensuring that the government cannot ignore femicide, the most extreme manifestation of men's violence against women.

The government's Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, published in December, deploys the full power of the state to prevent harm, pursue perpetrators and support victims.

It includes action to tackle the root causes of abuse by challenging misogyny and harmful attitudes, particularly among boys and young men, alongside tougher enforcement against perpetrators and stronger protection for victims.

This includes the national rollout of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, the expansion of specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force, and more than £1 billion of investment over the next 3 years to support victims, from safe accommodation and counselling to specialist therapeutic services.

Violence against women and girls has been treated as a fact of life for too long. Remembering the women named in Parliament must mean acting differently, and this government is determined to go further and faster to end it.

Sadly, additional names were added to this list close the debate. So, the count is larger than originally reported.