South Oxfordshire was among the top-performing areas in a study that looked at the toughest places in the UK to be a girl.

The research also found that just one in 20 girls and young women feel completely safe in public spaces across the country.

According to new research from Plan International UK, North East Lincolnshire is the toughest place in the UK to be a girl.

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Blackpool, Barrow-in-Furness (now Westmorland and Furness), Rochdale and Knowsley, all in the North West of Englan, made up the rest of the top five toughest places after measures including education, employment and life expectancy were all taken into account, the charity said.

Its State of Girls’ Rights in the UK 2024 report also looked at factors such as the gender pay gap and uptake of science, technology and maths subjects at A-Level, in order to rank how local authority areas performed.

The other top performing areas were East Dunbartonshire in Scotland, Sutton in south London, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, Lisburn and Castlereagh in Northern Ireland.

In its ranking, no area scored above 80 out of 100 points, which the charity said showed “there is clear room for improvement for every council and community in supporting girls’ rights”.

As well as the rankings, the report surveyed 2,963 girls and women aged 12-21 across the UK, which Plan International said was the biggest survey in the report’s eight-year history.

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Among the findings were that only five per cent feel completely safe in public spaces such as on public transport or on the street, while nine per cent feel completely safe in online spaces, and 11 per cent said they feel completely safe in leisure spaces.

A a fifth (20 per cent) do not trust the police at all, rising to almost a quarter of 17 to 21 year-olds.

Little over half (54 per cent) feel they have the same educational and employment opportunities as boys or men their age, while less than a fifth (17 per cent) agree that boys know or understand enough about the challenges and issues girls face in today’s world.

The report has called for tackling inequality and ending discrimination to be at the heart of the new Government’s plans, as well as sustainable long-term funding for local government.

Rose Caldwell, chief executive at Plan International UK, said: “Tired of empty words of empowerment, girls want to see real tangible change in their lives. There is room for all communities to better support girls’ rights but they need urgent support from the Government to deliver better outcomes for girls.

“Our report should sound the alarm for all politicians and leaders. Girls want to have their voices heard. The new UK Government must do more to create meaningful change that tackles inequality and ends discrimination for girls.”

Heather Kidd, from the Local Government Association, said: “Many of the disadvantages and barriers to opportunity this report identifies could be improved if councils had the long-term funding needed to provide the essential services that make girls feel safe, empowered, and confident about their futures."

“It is vital, as the report sets out, that councils are able to restore their focus on tackling inequalities at a local level. To do so, the LGA is calling for flexible, multi-year settlements so councils can better understand and address the particular challenges in their places.”