Did you know about the Women’s Night Safe Space in Leeds? Have you heard of the Walksafe app?
Leeds Mindful Employer Network Project Lead, Leigh Staunton, has been catching up with Shreena Gobey, who is the Women’s Night Safe Space Coordinator for Women Friendly Leeds.
Leigh and Shreena caught up about the Women’s Night Safe Space in Leeds and why it matters for employers to know about it and share with employees. Shreena also talked to Leigh about the Women Friendly Recruiter Checklist, and how employers can get involved, as well as the bespoke training on women’s safety that is on offer to businesses and organisations in the city.
Hi Shreena, tell us a bit about you and your role at Leeds Women’s Aid.
Hello, I’m Shreena – Women’s Night Safe Space Coordinator, part of Women Friendly Leeds and based at Leeds Women’s Aid. I’m originally from Leicester, came to Leeds for uni and never wanted to leave. I love leopard print, trainers and coffee. I’m a Youth and Community Development worker, my passion is creating and sharing social justice projects in different areas of society to build safer spaces with equitable opportunities.
Being from generation Girl Power, my mum seeking asylum in the UK and my dad being an incredible community activist in his heyday, I think it’s in my fibres to work towards social justice. I have that fire in my belly to create change and listen to the lump in my throat that tells me to speak up. My mum always used to say, “love many, trust few, paddle your own canoe”. These words of wisdom stay with me, and I hope my work helps build greater trust between people.
My role is to coordinate the Women’s Night Safe Space in Leeds and champion women and girls’ experiences, wishes and right to live safer, happier and more fulfilled lives.
An average week would involve: a Women’s Night Safe Space shift on the bus; aftercare support for women we’ve helped; checking in with our incredible partnership team; developing fundraising plans to keep the service running; connecting with bars and clubs helping to raise awareness; and supporting delivery of our Switch onto Women’s Safety Training sessions.
Can you tell our network members about the Women’s Night Safe Space initiative? How did it come about?
In 2021, Women Friendly Leeds conducted a Safety Survey, in which nearly 1,500 women and girls took part, sharing experiences, ideas and recommendations for Leeds. This included a whole host of things: reporting to the police, impact of abuse and harassment and what contributes to feeling safe or not safe. There was an idea around developing a Women’s Night Safe Space within the survey findings and so in March 2022 there was a pilot and we launched fully in November 2022. Since then, we have gone on to support over 3,000 women and girls and raised awareness about women’s safety and experiences with over 1,000 men. The service was born out of Women Friendly Leeds as a movement and continues to drive change, taking a societal approach to end violence against women and girls.
Tell us a bit about who Women’s Night Safe Space (WNSS) seeks to support?
We support lots of women and girls who may be enjoying a night out in Leeds, but also those who are working in our hospitality sector in the city, students new to Leeds and homeless women. We also run monthly nights in partnership with Leeds First Friday, the UK’s largest Trans+ Social Event.
The big question we often get asked is, “Do we help men?” and the answer…Yes! If we can help and we have capacity to do so without anyone feeling uncomfortable, then of course we are here to help. It’s really important to us to be known as Women’s Night Safe Space though, because we know women may be less likely to ask for help, and because of the kinds of support we offer. The area around Women’s Night Safe Space is also a fantastic opportunity for non-judgemental and compassionate awareness raising conversations, which we know is really important and welcomed.
How, when and where can the support be accessed and what might someone expect from WNSS?
Every Saturday, 10pm-3am, we can be found by the Corn Exchange, just opposite the bus stops, in our healthcare van with the Women Friendly Leeds sign on it. We are also on Lower Briggate 9pm-2am on the first Friday of the month. Depending on funding, we run on some bank holidays and for events. Do look at our Women Friendly Leeds website for any extra dates/times and locations.
You can just turn up to get support, or you might see our team in purple hi-vis on a walkaround in the city centre – feel free to reach out to us then. You can also ask the Police, Street Marshalls, Street Angels, Angels of Freedom or any Security Staff to help you contact us on our radio or support you to the Women’s Night Safe Space bus.
Firstly, you can expect to be offered a brew by one of our 4 members of staff (myself, a healthcare practitioner, a female SIA Security Guard and a Support Worker). In our bus, we have refreshments, period products, condoms, phone chargers, flip flops, fluffy socks and a toilet. We are there to talk through how we can help emotionally, practically and in a non-judgemental and compassionate way. Our support is fully confidential so you don’t need to give us your name or any details etc. You’ll leave with a leaflet about how to get in touch if you’d like to access signposting to longer-term support, depending on what help you need.
Tell us a bit about how WNSS has evolved since 2022 and its impact.
It’s fantastic to look back at the journey we have been on. WNSS has evolved in many ways. We’ve developed our incredible partnership team and formed partnerships with bars/clubs and Night Time Economy businesses. We work together with these to raise awareness. We know a massive positive impact WNSS has had is helping women and girls feel safer, knowing we are right there, if they need us. Those feelings of safety can make all the difference to enjoying your night.
We’ve also had some brilliant social media activity with Leeds Plus Social, which was so well received that every week we hear “we seen you on TikTok”. We have been able to support hundreds of young women because of them seeing that video, which is just incredible.
To give some numerical insight into our impact for women and girls we have:
- Ensured over 500 women got home safely after a night out.
- Helped over 100 women speak about Domestic Violence and Abuse for the first time.
- Enabled over 250 women to access longer-term help, from a welfare check, on a variety of issues including: Domestic Violence and Abuse, Sexual Violence, Mental Health, Substance Use, Housing, Caring Responsibilities, Debt Advice, Sexual Health and Bereavement.
- Supported over 90 women to make reports to the police, over half of which said they wouldn’t have without Women’s Night Safe Space.
Why should WNSS be of interest to employers and employees? How can they promote it?
We hope employers and employees can help raise awareness about Women’s Night Safe Space. A poster up in the staff room may make a big difference to people getting support. Helping spread the word about it with friends and family is also great. We also work closely with the hospitality, security and transport sectors to support women working in those industries and raise awareness about the important role those businesses can take in supporting women and girls in the city. Anyone can find out more about us on our website and if interested sign up to be a Women Friendly Leeds Ambassador, get involved in fundraising, Make a Pledge or become a Women Friendly Leeds Recruiter.
Tell us a bit about the Walksafe App. How was this developed and who should use it?
The WalkSafe App is for everyone! Again, this developed from the Women Friendly Leeds Safety Survey. Respondents shared an idea around introducing a Safety App leading to us partnering with WalkSafe, developing Leeds-specific functions based on that consultation of what people wanted and needed. This is now part of ongoing work from the Safer Leeds City Centre team. You can share location and journeys with trusted contacts and, through the safety map feature, find Ask for Angela venues, transport information and live on-street support, like Women’s Night Safe Space. The app also lets you send anonymous feedback about a venue to Safer Leeds City Centre team and anonymously report a variety of experiences such as: bad lighting in an area, cat calling, hate crime or on-street sexual harassment. We know a lot of these things go unreported, so it helps us understand people’s experiences to then respond across the partnerships with Safer Leeds.
Tell us about the ways you support Leeds employers?
We’ve supported lots of different businesses and organisations in the city with talks and other awareness-raising activity, as well as giving them the information they need to be able to signpost employees to support. Through PubWatch, we also helped share guidance around Workers’ Protections against Sexual Harassment and in partnership with Head of Steam we ran a Women in Hospitality event last year.
This year, we are collaborating with the Leeds Hospitality Conference, which takes place from 1st to 3rd September 2025 at Headrow House in the city centre.
Through our wider Women Friendly Leeds movement, we are developing our Recruiters Checklist, which is a tool to help employers be inclusive by demonstrating that the needs of women have been considered during the recruitment process. It consists of 6 ‘top tips’ to consider adopting throughout recruitment processes. You can read more about the Women-friendly recruiters checklist on our website.
You’re keen to co-produce some training initiatives on women’s safety with local employers to create bespoke packages for different industries. Why did you want employers to be part of the development and how can our network members get involved?
Yes, we have an accredited training course, Switch onto Women’s Safety Training, that was developed through a fantastic partnership with Humans Being, Leeds Jewish Housing Association, Men’s Health Unlocked and Touchstone. Its training delivered by men, for men, but also has space for female colleagues and sector-specific information. The course helps people develop their understanding of girls’ and women’s experiences on the subject of safety and explore ideas and solutions to address the issue of girls’ and women’s safety. It helps celebrate allyship, holds important conversations and shares practical tools and skills for people to feel empowered and confident to respond to experiences and be an active bystander who can intervene safely when men or boys around them are threatening women’s safety.
Shreena with employees from First Bus after a training session
As part of an ongoing partnership with the business, we have just delivered a brilliant session with First Bus on supporting women in the transport industry as well as female customers. We were able to tailor the session to their specific needs and work environment. Staff were really engaged and left excited for the next steps. Some feedback from First Bus included…
- “Interactive, provoking (in a good way), engaging.”
- “Delivery really good. High engagement. Enjoyed strategy discussions on how we roll this out.”
- “I have greater understanding of day to day issues women and girls have.”
- “I have greater understanding of what I can do in my role to support.”
If network members would like to find out more about arranging Switch onto Women’s Safety Training for your business or organisation please contact me, ShreenaG@leedswomensaid.org.uk / 07442 157857
Thanks so much to Shreena for contributing to this blog.
Find out more about Women’s Safe Night Space in Leeds
Read about becoming a Women Friendly Leeds Ambassador
Check out the Women Friendly Recruiter Checklist
Help review and refresh the Women Friendly Recruiter Checklist by taking part in a short survey
