Angela Scanlon ‘scared walking in the dark’ as she backs new legal guidelines to guard ladies
Strictly star, podcaster and mum of two Angela Scanlon throws support behind social media restrictions for under 16s, and says more must be done to protect women
Strictly star Angela says she’s glad catcalling has been made illegal – but more needs to be done to protect women and girls (Image: Getty Images)
As new polling finds that nine out of 10 women have reported feeling unsafe while walking after dark, presenter and podcaster Angela Scanlon has told the Mirror that she is one of them. “As a woman you have a fake phone call in the back of a taxi. You hold your keys between your fingers as you’re running to the door,” says Angela, 42, who took to the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom in 2023, partnered with professional dancer Carlos Gu and finished in sixth place. “I don’t think there’s any woman on the planet who hasn’t experienced being afraid walking home in the dark – or not the dark for that matter.”
The research, conducted by YouGov, also found that one in three young women are put off walking locally due to personal safety fears and seven in 10 have changed their route to avoid walking in the dark during winter or darker months. In response, Active Travel England (ATE) has announced new government guidance will be issued to councils nationwide to help them consider how to make their streets safer for women and girls, tackling inadequate lighting, poorly maintained routes, personal safety fears and antisocial behaviour.
Angela, who presents the Get A Grip podcast with Vicky Pattison, says the changes can’t come soon enough. “Friends of mine who run a lot have to be strategic. It’s not paranoia or hypersensitivity, that’s women knowing that there is a risk,” she says. And there is more hope on the horizon. As of April, a new law was passed as part of the Government’s long awaited Violence Against Women’s and Girls strategy, to target those who harass women and girls in public because of their sex, meaning behaviour such as following, catcalling and intimidating women or girls could result in up to two years in prison.
Jess Phillips, former Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls, said: “If you think that shouting at a teenage girl in a school uniform from your van about her appearance doesn’t make her walk a different way home, doesn’t make her think every time she sees a van and jump – it makes her change her behaviour. I want this shame to change sides. I want them to change their behaviour. I’m not the judge and jury in these circumstances. I just write the law, and it would have to meet the evidential threshold. But if anyone thinks that it’s OK to do that, then there’s something wrong with them.”
Angela lives in North London and has been married to business entrepreneur Roy Horgan for over a decade. The couple share two daughters, Ruby, eight, and Marnie, six, and Angela welcomes the new legislation. “Catcalling has now been made illegal and it’s a definite move in the right direction,” she says. “I think it’s great. It’s tough because it’s on a spectrum but I think anything that helps men to check their behaviour can only be a good thing. It helps them to understand that, ‘Hun, whistling at us is not the compliment you think it is. If someone is feeling deeply uncomfortable, it’s not landing the way you thought it was’.”
Angela is the face of a new campaign from Maltesers, which highlights the silent solidarity found between women. New data from the brand, polling 2000 UK women, found that 68% of women can tell what another woman is thinking just by looking at her, 89% use an unspoken “Sisterhood Code” to communicate and support each other and 50% have experienced this connection even with complete strangers.
“Women are the real protectors of women,” says Angela, who presents The Apprentice: Unfinished Business on BB2. Conversations come up, and I think men are still like, ‘What do you mean?’ But for women, safety is a very real issue – and one every woman understands. I’ve become more street wise and I’ve gotten older. I follow my instincts more. For years I thought, I don’t want to make him think I’m a weirdo. But if I sense anything now, attack is the best form of defence. I yell.”
It’s a common topic on her podcast. “Women’s safety is something I talk about with my friends, and we talk about it on the podcast. It’s frightening,” says Angela. “To be talking about it all the time feels heavy. We talk about toxic masculinity, and how we try to as parents educate boys to be responsible for themselves rather than the onus being on girls to protect themselves, or not invite the things.”
She worries about the safety of her own daughters as they grow up. “It’s hard isn’t it? We’re hyper aware. I’m one of four girls and now I realise my mum must have been worried all the time. I think that’s maybe just the gig being a parent, you worry,” says Angela.
“I try to build my girls up and allow them to be wild spirited strong feisty little rips, which when I’m trying to call bedtime doesn’t always go down very well. But sharpen your elbows babes, let’s go. I try to remind them that they can do whatever the hell they want. Just get stuck in. But I can’t watch the news. I become so consumed by everything. I put a buffer around myself, maybe it’s delusion or denial. The world is scary but also magical.”
Something else Angela supports as a parent is talk of social media restrictions for under 16s. Following the ban of social media for under 16s in Australia, calls have grown for reform here in the UK including increased safety measures to curb addictive features and harmful content. And our readers are in support. Our latest poll asked if you were in support of a ban, and 66% were in favour of social media restrictions, up 2% from a similar poll in December.
An active Instagram user herself with 505,000 followers, Angela says she would welcome restrictions – or even an outright ban. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the Mirror this week: “Every parent knows this is a real and growing concern. The way our children are using social media is changing fast, and too often it is happening without the right protections in place. I’ve been clear that something must be done, and it’s not a question of whether we will act, but how.”
And Angela says: “I love it, I fully support restrictions – and in fact, a total ban. It’s very tricky because we’re the guinea pigs – this generation – but there’s too much evidence which points to how bad social media is. People my age had childhoods without phones until a certain age. But there’s plenty of research now as to what early interaction with phones and social media can do to young people. And I don’t think anyone can be as deluded as to it being a great thing for a child’s development.
“‘It’s the way of the world’, and that is what we say to soothe ourselves. But the peer pressure thing is very real for children, and I think parent’s need help to combat it. When one child has social media and another doesn’t, the latter might feel left out. I think it’s easier for parents to collectively go, no, it’s not a thing.
“A collective ban is really the only way. Much like a toddler who really wants to mainline ice cream, as a parent you have to withstand the kicking and screaming and just say no. And with restrictions that no will be easier to say. Come on Keir Starmer, let’s do it for the kids.”
*To find out more about the Sisterhood Code and see the short film from Maltesers with Angela and Judi Love, see HERE
