‘Moving too slowly’ to end violence against women, say activists
One year after Sarah Everard’s murder authorities are...
CAMPAIGNERS have blasted the lack of “radical changes” needed to end violence against women on the first anniversary of Sarah Everard’s murder today.
Action to end harassment and brutality is “moving too slowly”, Maya Tutton, co-founder of campaign group Our Streets Now, has declared.
She said: “A year on from the horrific murder of Sarah Everard, and the ensuing national conversations about male violence and women’s safety, we are disappointed to see that we have not seen the societal shifts needed to end harassment and violence.
“We are still waiting for signs of progress from the Government on their review into gaps in the law.
“Nor have we seen the radical changes needed in schools to create change.”
Marketing executive Sarah, 33, was kidnapped while walking home from a friend’s flat in Clapham, south London, on
March 3 last year. A week later her body was found in woodland in Ashford, Kent. Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, later pleaded guilty to her kidnap, rape and murder. The Daily Express has partnered with Our Streets
Now and Plan UK to call for Britain’s streets to be made safer for women.
Women feel less secure walking alone at night now than in 2018, a YouGov poll from November found.
Meanwhile, 28 per cent of men said they are now more likely to walk on the opposite side of the road to a woman when she is walking alone.
Rose Caldwell, chief executive at
Plan UK, said: “The Home Secretary, over six months ago, promised a review into the legal gaps on public sexual harassment and a decision on a new law to criminalise it.
“But we are yet to see any movement on that.We urge the Government to criminalise all forms of public sexual harassment and to take urgent action to restore trust in the police.”