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Meet Abbie: Leading Safety With Strength, Honesty, and Hope

  • Mar 2
  • 3 min read

If you’ve been part of She Strides for any amount of time, you’ve likely felt the steady, grounding presence of Abbie — our Safety Lead, long-standing member, and fierce advocate for women’s wellbeing. Abbie is a Detective Sergeant for the Metropolitan Police and has been for 16 years. Over this time, she’s worked in many departments, including the Community Safety Unit, which deals primarily with domestic-related incidents and violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Abbie has been with She Strides from the very beginning, and when you ask her what she loves most about the club, the answer isn’t the running (or even the cakes — allegedly). It’s the collective power that builds every time our community comes together.



“It’s the joy, strength and power that I feel after every single meet. The energy is unmatched. And that comes from women carrying each other, supporting each other and championing each other.”


But with winter comes something we’re all familiar with — darker days, darker nights, and the creeping discomfort many women feel when running alone or outdoors. For many women, that discomfort isn’t imagined. It’s lived. And Abbie is determined to help us understand both why we feel unsafe and what we can do about it, without ever putting blame on ourselves.

 

Why We Feel Unsafe — And Why It’s Valid

“Traditional advice tells women to: Only run in well-lit areas, change your schedule, move indoors, tell someone where you’re going,” Abbie adds.

Yes, these tips can help. But as Abbie emphasises, they don't address the root problem.


  • 1 woman is killed every 3 days by a man in the UK.

  • 2.5 million adults experience domestic abuse each year.

  • 1 in 5 children witness or experience domestic abuse.

  • In 2023, over a million VAWG-related crimes were recorded — accounting for 20% of all crime.

  • 1 in 12 women each year experience a VAWG-related incident.

 

“These are not numbers we can ignore. These are not fears we can shrug away. Women are continually told to adjust, minimise, restrict, be careful — to shrink for safety. And still, the weight of fear follows us.”

 

Abbie’s message is clear:

“We don’t need to feel or hold that blame. We don’t need to lessen ourselves. We aren’t the problem — and changing ourselves has never been the solution.”

 

Practical Ways to Advocate for Safety

While the system around us must change, there are steps we can take that contribute to greater safety and collective action — without placing responsibility on women.


1. Running Alone? Don’t.

She Strides exists to keep women moving, together.

We have runs most days across multiple locations, covering all paces and experience levels. Every session has a trained pacer — with a phone, bright clothing, and a commitment to keeping everyone safe.

Running together doesn’t just feel safer. It is safer.

 

2. Poor Lighting? Report It.

Dark roads are not just unpleasant — they’re unsafe.

Instead of simply avoiding them, you can create change by using FixMyStreet where you can report broken or missing lighting.

These aren’t small gestures. They’re community-level actions.

 

3. Harassment, Cat Calling, Or Beeping Cars? Report It.

Catcalling often gets minimised — but it is not harmless.

“These behaviours can be gateway offending,” Abbie says. “It may start with a shout, whistle, or bum grab, and lead to more serious offending. But most of it goes unreported.”


You can report through:

No report is too small. Change requires visibility — and visibility requires reporting.

 

Shifting the Narrative: It Was Never Our Fault

“We live in a society that constantly tells women how they should behave to avoid violence,” Abbie adds. “Too friendly? Leading someone on. Too quiet? Cold and rude.  Wearing less? Asking for it. Wearing more? Unattractive. Had a drink? How can you know what happened? Didn’t drink? Boring. The contradictions are endless.”


And Abbie wants every single woman to hear this:

“We don’t need to change. We don’t need to shrink. We don’t need to carry the blame.”

 

Why Abbie Matters — And Why Her Work Matters

Abbie brings truth, courage, and compassion to She Strides. Her work is not about scaring women. It’s about equipping them, validating them, and empowering them. It’s about reminding us that we are not overreacting. We are not the problem. We deserve safety. We deserve to run, move, and live without fear.


And until that world exists — we will keep supporting one another, keep speaking up, and keep running together.


If you want to talk to Abbie, your pacer, or your club leaders about anything raised here, we are here for you.

 
 
 

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