Chancellor John Healey has pledged to give £15m to a fund established to tackle misogyny in schools, at work and in communities.

The government said the money will be provided over three years to schemes such as mentoring for young people, workplace training and communications campaigns designed to improve women and girls’ safety.

Speaking on the eve of his first Budget, Healey said: “Every woman and girl deserves to feel safe, respected and able to pursue their ambitions – at school, at work and in their communities.”

But Conservative shadow women and equalities minister Joy Morrissey said “not a single woman and girl is going to feel safer with this total waste of public money”.

The “misogyny prevention fund” is expected to be confirmed in the Budget and is intended to support the work of a national taskforce established last month, external and chaired by Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson.

Healey said the money will support “practical action to tackle misogyny head-on” and he hopes it will attract additional funding from businesses and philanthropists to increase its reach.

Phillipson said daily incidents of misogyny, including sexist slurs and workplace discrimination, have “no place in modern Britain”.

She said: “This funding is a critical step as we work to confine misogyny to the history books, where it belongs.”

Phillipson added that “everyone, from big business to members of the public, can do their bit to stamp out misogyny and improve the lives of women and girls everywhere”.

When launching the taskforce chaired by Phillipson, the government said last month that it would aim to ensure government policy is “shaped by those most affected by misogyny”.

It added its first meeting would focus on young people and later look at “workplaces, digital spaces and social cohesion”.

Statistics published by the Office for National Statistics this month showed an estimated 12.8% of females aged 16 and over in England and Wales – around 3.2m – experienced at least one of domestic abuse, sexual victimisation or stalking in the year to March 2026.

The figure was an estimated 8.9% for males – around 2.1m.

For the Conservatives, Morrissey cited the estimates for women and girls as she criticised the announcement.

She said: “Labour simply aren’t serious about tackling the crisis of violence against women and girls.

“This week it seems they will get the hard-pressed British taxpayer to fork out £15m to fund projects to tackle the ‘manosphere’.”

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