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Guide · Kits and defibrillators
When a woman collapses in cardiac arrest, the people around her are less likely to help than they would be for a man. Worries about touching her chest, removing her bra or being accused of something cost minutes she doesn’t have. This article clears up what changes for a female casualty, what doesn’t, and why her life comes before anyone’s embarrassment.
THE SHORT ANSWER
CPR on a woman is exactly the same as on anyone else: same hand position, same depth, same speed, and you can push through her clothes.
The defibrillator pads must go on bare skin. If her bra is in the way, take it off or cut it, without hesitating.
Protect her dignity once the pads are on, never before. Every minute without a shock cuts her chance of survival by about 10%.
Why women are less likely to get CPR
In public places, women who collapse suddenly in cardiac arrest are less likely than men to be given CPR by people nearby. A study of more than 39,000 cardiac arrests in Canada and the US found that about 61% of women received bystander CPR in public, compared with 68% of men. At home, there was no meaningful difference.
The researchers don’t know for certain why. A 2024 UK survey for St John Ambulance points to one likely reason: a third of men said they would worry about being accused of inappropriate touching if they gave CPR to a woman, and nearly half said they’d feel less comfortable using a defibrillator if her bra might need to come off. People may also be slower to recognise cardiac arrest in a woman.
It’s a question learners raise with us on courses. The answers are simple, and every one of them points the same way: act.
Myth: CPR is different on a woman
It isn’t. CPR is the same for every adult. Put the heel of one hand on the lower half of the breastbone, in the centre of the chest, with your other hand on top. Push down 5 to 6 cm, about twice a second.
You don’t need to undress her to give compressions; push through her clothes. If a thick coat or layers stop you finding the centre of her chest, it’s fine to open or move them so you can.
Breasts don’t change where your hands go. The breastbone is in the same place, so keep your hands in the centre and keep going.
Myth: you shouldn’t take her bra off
The defibrillator pads must stick to bare skin to work. That means opening or cutting her top, and dealing with her bra if it gets in the way.
The pads go:
one below her right collarbone, next to the breastbone
the other on the left side of her chest, under the armpit, not on the front of the chest or too low.
Follow the pictures on the pads and the defibrillator’s voice prompts.
If you can place both pads correctly with her bra still on, leave it. If it stops you placing either pad properly, take it off or, more likely, cut through it; don’t lose time trying to undo it neatly. Treat a chest binder the same way. If she has chest jewellery or a piercing, take jewellery off only if it’s quick, and place the pads so they don’t touch a piercing.
Suppose a colleague collapses in the staff canteen and isn’t breathing normally. One person calls 999 and starts compressions straight away, through her blouse. Someone else brings the defibrillator, opens her blouse and finds her bra is where the side pad needs to go, so they cut it. The pads go on, and only then does someone lay a jacket over her chest and ask the people watching to step back. Her dignity wasn’t ignored. It just came after the steps that keep her alive.
Myth: you could get in trouble for touching her
If she has collapsed and isn’t breathing normally, she can’t give you permission, so you can assume she would want your help. This is called implied consent, and it applies to any first aid you give someone who is unconscious.
The Resuscitation Council UK says rescuers should not be concerned about exposing a person’s chest to apply the pads. Its 2025 guidelines also say you shouldn’t worry about causing serious injury with CPR.
You may have heard of the SARAH Act 2015 (the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act). If someone who stepped in to help is later sued for negligence, it requires the court to consider whether they were acting heroically by intervening in an emergency to help a person in danger. It applies in England and Wales only, not Northern Ireland. Even so, there’s no reported case in the UK of someone being successfully sued for using a defibrillator to help. We cover this, and who can use one, in Do you need a defibrillator at work?.
The real risk is doing nothing. Without CPR and a defibrillator, someone in cardiac arrest has almost no chance of surviving.
THE NORTHLIGHT TAKEAWAY
If it were someone you love, would you hesitate?
01
Start compressions now
Push hard and fast in the centre of her chest, through her clothes.
02
Get the pads on skin
Remove or cut her bra if it’s in the way, without a second thought.
03
Protect her dignity after
Screen her and cover her chest once the pads are on.
04
Practise before you need it
Hands-on training makes these steps feel automatic.
KEEP READING
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TRAINING FOR THIS TOPIC
Public dates in Belfast, Mallusk and Ballymena, or at your workplace.
Sources & Further Reading
Resuscitation Council UK: Adult basic life support guidelines (2025).
European Society for Emergency Medicine: Women less likely to be given CPR in public places (2023).
St John Ambulance: Survey by Censuswide, April 2024 (reported by The HR Director).
UK legislation: Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015.
Royal College of Nursing: Good Samaritan laws explained (January 2026).
Resuscitation Council UK: CPR, AEDs and the law.
Written by Northlight Training