Anti-immigration campaigners across Britain are increasingly adopting the language of women's rights in an "opportunistic" bid to make their views more acceptable to the mainstream public, according to experts and advocacy groups. They warn that genuine fears about sexual violence and child safety are being weaponised to fuel anti-migrant sentiment.
The New Face of Protest: Pink Ladies and Women's Safety Initiative
Over the past year, two distinct women-led factions have emerged within the movement: the Pink Ladies and the Women's Safety Initiative (WSI). These groups, often seen at demonstrations with signs reading "I'm not far right, I'm worried about my kids," explicitly reject the far-right label. However, analysts argue they are using language now central to far-right strategy, providing a "veneer of respectability" to anti-migrant ideology.
Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), told The Independent: "These narratives are promoted by those who exploit genuine public concerns about sexual violence to intentionally fuel racism in our communities." She highlighted that the cynical co-option of these issues is drawing in new supporters, particularly white women, amid societal failures to address male violence.
Exploiting Tragedy and Fear for Recruitment
The rhetoric focusing on a "foreign sexual threat" has been supercharged by high-profile cases, such as the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in Epping, Essex, by asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu in the summer of 2025. This incident sparked rallies outside the Bell Hotel where he was housed. A researcher from the anti-fascist organisation Hope not Hate noted that narratives around a "paedophilic threat" from asylum seekers specifically engage women in their roles as mothers and grandmothers.
This framing deliberately escalates anti-migration discourse into a public safety issue, which is harder to counter. "It also makes the far-right appear more publicly palatable," the researcher said. "[The men are] no longer presenting themselves as thuggish far-right members but also protectors of the community."
Mainstreaming Extremist Beliefs
The newer groups distinguish themselves with family-oriented events, "girl power" messaging, and the colour pink, creating a contrast with the violent far-right riots seen after the Southport stabbings. The Pink Ladies, organised in part by Epping Forest Reform UK vice-chair Orla Minihane, held a large "pink protest" in Chelmsford where right-wing commentator Mike Graham made inflammatory claims about asylum seekers.
Lois Shearing, author of Pink Pilled, warned that this approach provides a powerful respectable facade for extremist views. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) spokesperson cautioned that the safety of women and girls is being used as a "wedge" to promote beliefs that ultimately argue for mass deportations.
While there is no definitive data, experts agree that as the movement grows overall, more women are becoming involved. The most concerning development of 2025, they say, is the creeping normalisation of these anti-immigrant beliefs within mainstream political discourse. A WSI spokesperson defended their stance, pointing to crimes committed by migrants and stating they represent thousands of women across the country.
