Child sex abuse by women 'has doubled'
Updated on 09 November 2009
The helpline service ChildLine has reported 132 per cent rise in reports of female sex abuse on children over the last five years, compared to a 132 increase in reports of abuse by men.
Reports of sex abuse by males have risen more slowly, by 27 per cent, in the same period.
Last year, ChildLine counsellors heard from 2,142 children who said they had been abused by a female. This is almost a quarter (24 per cent) of calls where the abusers gender could be identified.
It comes after the issue of sexual abuse by women was thrust into the news with the conviction of nursery worker Vanessa George.
