Sarah Everard

On the 3rd of March, 2021, 33 year old Sarah Everard went missing. A week later, on the 10th of March, her remains were discovered. Sarah's story - one of being abducted and murdered - is, unfortunately, not particularly rare.

On International Women's Day every year, British MP Jess Phillips reads out the names of all the women and girls killed over the previous 12 months, where a man has been convicted or charged as the main perpetrator.

This year, MP Jess Phillips read out 118 names. She followed the jarring and quite frankly terrifying statistic by saying how "killed women are not vanishingly rare. Killed women are common."

While Sarah Everard's case isn't the first of it's kind, and certainly not the last, it enraged the UK. What happened to Sarah is something that every woman fears, nearly every time she leaves the house. It has hit especially hard this time because covid has limited so many activities that walking is one of the only "safe" things we've been allowed to do, and yet women still wind up dead. Women have had enough of being terrified for their lives every time they go outside, and want to be able to walk home without fear or risk of being assaulted or murdered, simply for being a woman. My digital text piece titled '#ReclaimTheseStreets' was inspired by the hashtags being shared on social media, following the devastating news about Sarah.

As a result of Sarah's death, women began sharing their own stories and tips on how to stay safe.

Helena Wadia was one of those. She told BBC Radio 5 Live she wanted to highlight how common it was for women to feel unsafe.

"The first time I was catcalled I think I was about 12 years old," she said.

"I have been self-policing since then. We moderate everything - our clothing, our drinking. We get taxis where maybe we can't afford it. We hold keys between our fingers. We don't wear headphones when we're jogging. We stick to well-lit areas. It's exhausting."

One tweet asking women if they have ever faked phone calls, changed route, or even run in fear after feeling threatened by men in public spaces was liked more than 120,000 times.

People even began sharing tips on what apps were out there to help women stay safe.

While necessary, it is sad that woman need to do so much in order to stay safe. Even then, it isn't always enough, as Sarah did everything she was supposed to, - she wore brightly coloured clothing, walked through well lit areas and made sure people knew where she was - and yet she was still a victim. What makes it worse is that when one woman is targeted, the rest are told to stay home, never leave the house alone and take extra precautions. And while many women will take extra precautions, most do not agree with this advice. Back in the 70s, women were also told to stay home, following the spate of murders of young women by Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper. Much like when this happens now, many women were not happy with being told to stay home and believed that it wasn't the solution. They believed that men should be given the curfew instead, given that it was one of them who was the problem. It isn't fair to restrict anyone because of someone else's crimes, however women have had enough of being the only ones to be penalised. Why should the entire female population be punished for the crimes of a man?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56384600

The Ripper, Netflix, 2020 - https://www.netflix.com/title/81006684

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sarah_Everard