Revealed: The best ( and worst) places in Britain to be a woman
oNe is home to an array of luvvies and fine restaurants. The other is semi-suburban and most definitely not star-studded.
Yet while the trendy London borough of Islington has been voted the UK’s worst place to be a woman, the Scottish commuter belt of east Dunbartonshire has been named the best.
The area, which includes suburbs of Glasgow as well as many dormitory towns and villages, scored highest overall in a study commissioned by Radio 4’s Woman’s hour thanks to its education facilities, air quality and green space, average income of women and overall well-being of residents.
Islington, where Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lives, rated poorly for well-being, environmental quality, housing affordability and safety.
All 380 UK local authorities were measured across eight categories – income, housing, well-being, safety, education, life expectancy, environment and culture – to give a ‘holistic analysis of women’s quality of life’.
Although east Dunbartonshire did not finish in the top ten for any category, it was in the top 50 in half and did not score poorly in any.
It is home to some of Scotland’s top schools and is close to several areas of beauty such as Loch Lomond National Park and the Campsie Fells. The Antonine Wall, once the most northern frontier of the Roman empire in Britain, runs through east Dunbartonshire.
The median hourly wage for women of £15.07 and median gender pay gap of 11 per cent put the area 46th best in terms of income. Residents are among the happiest and least anxious in the UK and the area was voted best place to raise a family in 2007.
Mother- of-two Sandra Johnston, 38, from Milngavie, said: ‘ You feel very safe walking about. even when you’re getting the last train at night you just feel a lot safer when you’re walking home in the dark.’
The town of Bearsden was, until recently, home to Julia Donaldson, author of the popular Gruffalo children’s books. There is a statue of the Gruffalo there to mark its link to the area.
In contrast, Islington–known for its juxtaposition of social deprivation and super gentrification–performed poorly for happiness (371 st out of 380), life satisfaction (372nd), feelings that life is worthwhile (379th) and housing affordability (375th).
The area has long been a favourite with celebrities and politicians, and is home to Arsenal’s football stadium and Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Yet is one of the poorest and most unequal places in the UK. The crime rate is high.
Douglas Adams, who wrote The hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, based some of his characters on people he knew and loved in Islington.
A flat in the borough typically costs more than £610,000 – almost three times the cost of the average house in east Dunbartonshire, while a terraced house costs £1.3million and the typical semi nearly £2.2million
While the best restaurant in east Dunbartonshire, according to TripAdvisor, is The Burnbrae Bar and Restaurant, in Bearsdon, where a starter of homemade haggis fritters is £4.99 and a Chicken tikka masala main £11.99. one of the best in Islington is Trullo, where a starter of ox heart with borlotti beans and anchovy and rosemary dressing is £8, and a main of whole mackerel with Castelluccio lentils and salsa rossa is £16.50. The best place to be a woman under 30 is West oxfordshire, because of high employment, according to the study carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, which will be revealed on Woman’s hour today. For women over 65, the best place is South oxfordshire, thanks to a low percentage of older women living alone and a low female mortality rate.
The worst place for young women was Kingston-upon-hull – mainly due to low employment rates – and for middle- aged women it was Nottingham. For elderly women, Islington was the worst, due to high mortality rates and a high percentage of women living alone.
‘You feel so safe here’