How the murder of Sarah Everard affects us all.
On Monday 8th March the whole world celebrated International Women’s day – the day when women come together and speak up for their rights and raise awareness about inequalities and injustices perpetrated against women internationally. This year the spotlight has been placed firmly on the safety of women in public spaces after the tragic murder of 33 year old Sarah Everard.
Women are now coming together and articulating their reality whilst in public spaces. Keys clutched between fingers to fend off an attacker. Crossing the road to face the traffic. Sharing a location on WhatsApp – not because it will stop it happening, but because it will make it easier to pinpoint when it does.
“We aren’t born doing this stuff – we learn over years of watching trauma play out,” explains one of the thousands of now viral tweets concerning women’s public safety in the wake of Sarah Everard’s disappearance. The 33 year old went missing just after 9.30pm on 3rd March 2021 and is now the subject of a tragic murder investigation with a serving male police officer now charged with her murder.
Across the country, Sarah Everard’s story has sparked a collective sense of grief, fear and rage. Women are speaking up in their thousands. Vigil’s have been organised to remember Sarah and other victims who have been affected by violence, they are calling it Reclaim These Streets. And thousands of women have been sharing their everyday experiences of being groped, followed, flashed-at and cat called on the streets up and down the UK – often in broad daylight.
Many women felt sick to their stomachs as the shocking details of Sarah’s story came together. For many of them, and equally shocking were the conversations with men that came with it: the partners unaware this was their lived experience. The women admitting that they would not dare wear headphones home at night in case they could not hear an attacker approaching them. And alarmingly men and women alike continuing to insist Sarah shouldn’t have been walking on her own.
As we march towards equality, diversity and inclusivity women continue to voice that they do not have the same freedoms and rights as men. Not even the basic right to personal safety whilst going about their daily activities.
This horrific crime has provoked a reaction amongst British people and across the globe. The whole world seems to be finally realising and acknowledging the daily lived experience of women. Experiences of vulnerability and fear. A large percentage of Accalia Care staff are female, and some of our employees have expressed their experiences and fears. One of our female colleagues says: “As a female, you just accept and learn to live with the fear of someone walking behind you. Getting keys ready to use as a weapon. Carrying hairspray to spray in eyes. Panic and sweat when the taxi goes down a road you don’t recognize. Being aware of groups of males standing about…”. Fear for women seems to have become the norm.
It has become extremely evident that we must educate the next generation to respect women so that they feel safe whilst in public spaces just as men do. Therefore, at Accalia Care we are committed not only to help vulnerable young people overcome physical, mental and sexual abuse, we are also committed to educate them to respect everyone they come into contact with whether male or female. We also educate them to respect personal boundaries and to respect a person of the opposite sex when they say “NO” to any request they may make.