Summer gathering to remember Sarah
A celebration of women and sisterhood is being planned
A NEWBURY town councillor is hoping to organise a gathering to remember Sarah Everard and support the Reclaim These Streets movement once coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
Former deputy leader Olivia Lewis said the event will predominantly be a ‘celebration of women and sisterhood’ but also highlighting that more needs to be done to make women feel safe when walking alone.
Ms Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, disappeared while walking from a friend’s house in Clapham to her home in Brixton on March 3.
Last week, her remains were found in an area of woodland in Ashford, Kent, and a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Pc Wayne Couzens, 48, has now been charged with her kidnap and murder.
Her death has sent shockwaves around the world and prompted thousands of women to share their experiences of being approached, attacked or sexually assaulted.
Dr Lewis said: “My aim is to keep the conversation going and hopefully have a gathering in Newbury when it is safe to do so.
“Reclaim These Streets sort of feels like equivalent of the Black Lives Matter movement, where women are now just saying ‘no, enough is enough, we shouldn’t have to feel like this anymore’.”
Dr Lewis said she does not feel safe walking home alone by herself at times after experiencing inappropriate behaviour from a number of men in the past.
She said: “Twice in my life I’ve been locked in cars by men who have tried something and I look back now and think how differently that could have ended.
“One of those men was a taxi driver.
“I was a student coming back from a night out.
“He locked the door and said ‘you don’t have to worry about paying love, you can pay me in another way’.
“Another time I was chatting to a man in a club.
“He told me he was married and I told him I wasn’t interested, but when I came out of the loo he just pinned me against the wall and shoved his face against mine.
“I just ran back to my friends at the bar crying.
“The terrible truth is, I look back now and all I think is ‘thank goodness I wasn’t raped’ and that’s just awful really.”
Dr Lewis admitted there have also been times where she has felt unsafe walking alone in Newbury.
She added: “It wasn’t anything serious, but one time in the A339 underpass a man cycled past me much closer than he needed to then slowed down and was lingering around.
“He didn’t do anything to me or assault me, but it’s that feeling of visceral fear it gives you.
“Then I read a few weeks ago in the NWN that a woman was robbed in that same underpass.
“After that I asked someone else to walk home with me after council meetings and if I’m in town on my own I’ll always text my husband to say I’m on my way home in case anything happens.
“As a woman you are told to wear flat shoes and not heels, walk in pairs, don’t walk with headphones in.
“It feels completely normal that you do these things, but it shouldn’t be.”
Dr Lewis added: “The emphasis always seems to be on women to modify their behaviour to stay safe and not about tackling the root cause, which is men who perpetrate this kind of behaviour towards women.
“Most men are not perpetrators.
“It is a small minority of men. “But the unfortunate reality is most of the violent crime against women is carried out by men.”
Dr Lewis thinks that one of the best ways to change behaviour and attitudes towards women is by more education in schools.
She added: “I have two young sons and I speak to them all the time about consent and treating women with respect. Education is key.”
If you would be interested in taking part in a summer gathering, or have an ideas about what it could include, contact Dr Lewis via her town council email address at olivia.lewis@ newbury.gov.uk