Women deserve to feel safe
THE astonishing public outpouring of grief and anger after the death of Sarah Everard should, if thought about logically, come as no surprise.
Every woman, no matter what age, will recognise the fear. The sudden stomach drop when you hear footsteps behind you. The pretending to be on the phone as you walk home. The entreaty from your mate to ring them when you get in – ‘to let me know you’re safe’.
It’s standard, isn’t it? This acceptance that we always, always have to be mindful of our safety in public spaces simply because of our sex.
And that everyday harassment and the low-level dread it engenders as we walk down the street or jog round the park are just par for the course.
This is not new. This has been going on for who knows how long?
I now give the same advice to my daughter as my mum gave to me as probably her mum gave to her: stick with your friends on a night out, walk away from the flasher on the corner, ignore the cat-calls on the street.
The shocking death of Sarah provided a focus for all our frustrations and fury. And while we have to recognise her tragedy is hers and her family’s alone, her story continues to resonate with women everywhere.
We should not be distracted by what happened at Clapham Common; the scenes of police officers manhandling women who came to lay flowers and light candles were shocking. There will be a review and accountability in due course.
But there is so much more to get angry over. For instance the plans announced by the Government to put police officers in nightclubs in a bid to protect women.
Honestly. Is this the best they’ve got?
Rape convictions are at a record low, while incidents of domestic homicide have risen in the last five years.
Putting plain clothes bobbies in clubs spectacularly misses the point and feels like a knee-jerk reaction.
Women get abused and intimidated and attacked in all kinds of places, from the street to the park to their own homes. Clubs are a tiny part of the story.
And then there’s the Wild West of some sections of social media where a certain kind of man, from abusive keyboard warriors to full-on stalkers, feel they have carte blanche to say what they like to women.
The problem of how we keep women safe – and how we make them feel safe – is far more complex and wide-spread than being on the look-out for a lone predator.
But we could start with a thing called zero tolerance.
Zero tolerance of any kind of intimidation or unwelcome engagement on the street committed by a man on a woman whether that’s by the use of language or action.
It’s not ‘a bit of banter’ or ‘having a laugh’. We don’t want to ‘cheer up’ or have to put up with sexual innuendo and intimidation. We just want to be respected.
I also believe that tolerating public harassment makes it easier for more serious crimes to happen.
Do we need new laws to enforce this? No. There is already legislation in place to tackle such behaviour. We simply need the judiciary and the police to enforce it.
Only then will women feel empowered to speak up and speak out.
Only then will we feel safer.