Campaigners have said the rise in "vigilante groups" and those "seeking to divide and intimidate" in Northern Ireland are making women less safe.
As activists prepare for the annual Reclaim the Night rally and march through the streets of Belfast on November 29, organisers have warned that those fuelling hate and misunderstanding are putting women at greater risk.
Helen Crickard from Reclaim the Agenda (RTA), a leading group campaigning against gender-based violence which is coordinating the rally, said society must challenge the harmful attitudes that have normalised violence against women and girls. She stressed that safety will not be achieved through further violence, but through education and understanding.
She added: "The threat to women's safety is not from outsiders nor is it from a mythological 'monster', sadly it is embedded in our society and tackling that can only be achieved through education. For the majority of the 30 women and girls murdered in Northern Ireland since 2020, their killers or the main suspect were well-known to them."
Hundreds of women, members of the LGBTQ+ community and supporters are expected to attend this year's march against gender-based violence on Saturday, November 29. Participants will gather at Writer's Square at 5.30pm before marching down Royal Avenue, Chichester Street and Victoria Street, ending at the Albert Clock.
The rally forms part of a wider programme marking the United Nations Global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, which begins on November 25 -- the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women -- and concludes on December 10, Human Rights Day.
RTA will launch its programme on November 25 at the MAC with a discussion on ending violence against all women and girls, including the particular experiences of disabled, LGBTQ+ and migrant women.
The event will conclude with a screening of the short film 'Removed', which highlights how immigration detention can deepen trauma - including abuse and gender-based violence. Afterward, attendees will join the 'Where's Our Safe Leave' at Stormont, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
Speakers at the Reclaim the Night rally will include Rita Aburahama, who has worked in Palestine supporting victims of violence, human rights abuses and state oppression.
Ahead of the event, she said: "Women's voices, including those of Palestinian women in Gaza, are being silenced in the very moment they need the world to hear them most.
"Gender-based violence in conflict is often dismissed as 'secondary' to the bigger picture, yet women bear some of the deepest wounds. By speaking at Reclaim the Night, I'm standing for every woman whose suffering is overlooked, and reclaiming space for stories the world keeps trying not to see."
Other key speakers will include Dr Becca Waterson, a historian of mental health and psychiatry, who said: "Reclaim the Night matters to me because I survived domestic abuse as an adult and lived through it as a child. I know how deeply it shapes a life, and how often women's experiences are minimised or erased.
"As a historian of hidden harm and a survivor, I walk to make our stories visible, to refuse silence or shame, and to demand a world where every woman and every survivor can move freely, safely and without fear."
Emily Roberts, Ulster University Students' Union President, will also speak on the night. She said students across Northern Ireland are committed to playing their part in ending violence against women and girls.
She said: "Reclaim the Night is more than an annual march, it is a powerful movement that ignites collective action and solidarity. Being part of this movement has played a core role in shaping my passion for women's empowerment, inspiring me to continue advocating for safer, more inclusive communities."
Reclaim the Night Co-organiser Danielle Roberts added: "Reclaim the Night began in Leeds in 1977 as a protest against police advice that women should stay home at night during the Yorkshire Ripper murders. Feminists in Belfast staged events throughout the 1970s & 80s before the march was revived 11 years ago amid rising levels of sexual violence and assault.
"The campaign now encompasses all forms of gender-based violence. This year there will be two simultaneous sister events, one organised by LGBTQ+ Women's Group Newry and for the second year Foyle Women's Information Network will be hosting a walk across the Peace Bridge."