The Death of Sarah Everard and the Women’s Protest in London

Recently I watched the Netflix documentary ‘The Ripper’ about Peter Sutcliffe [The Yorkshire Ripper], which detailed the series of murders he committed against women in the North of England in the nineteen seventies and eighties. One aspect of the series that stood out to me was the focus on the Women’s Liberation Movement which established the ‘Reclaim the Night’ movement in 1977 as a result of the murders. Essentially the women during the time were the ones being targeted by this man and so the advice from the police was that women should not be in public spaces after dark. This naturally angered many women, as men were allowed to stay out at night in pubs and bars whilst the women were told to stay indoors at home. The obvious response from the women was that this concept was wholly unfair; they were the ones being victimised but were told to not live their lives as a result whereas, the men – one of whom was the murderer – were allowed to continue with their lives with seemingly no repercussions.

Not only was this significant in its context but it also seems more important to me as a result of the murder of Sarah Everard and the outcry from the public that it sparked. Sarah Everard seemed to embody everything a woman could do to ensure her safety according to the police. She was wearing a coat, trousers, scarf, facemask and headphones, she was simply walking home from a friend’s house. Most women have felt unsafe walking home late at night in the dark. There are precautions we have all taken, making sure to walk in a well-lit area, having our keys between our fingers, texting or calling a friend or family member. These are all things that women should not feel the need to do in the first place but as a result of the murder of Sarah Everard they now seem fruitless. She most likely did all of these things and STILL she became the victim of an awful crime. As a result it has sparked an outcry from women and women’s right protesters. Women have to do all these things to protect themselves, avoiding walking home at night, dressing appropriately and guarding their drinks but the fact of the matter is that women should not have to do these things in the first place. We should not have the responsibility to protect our existence, it is the attackers that need to be held accountable and responsible. All these things that women do, most men take for granted. They have perhaps never even considered some of the lengths we have to go to in order to protect ourselves. Although we are a society built on fear, this is reality and Sarah Everard’s murder has made it all the more poignant to women. Sarah Everard embodied the fear that women experience, the threat to our lives and all the other women that have been abused by men which is why there has been such a huge response to her murder; particularly in the light of the growth of the #metoo movement and women’s rights over the years.

The huge emotional response from women across the country in response to the murder of Sarah Everard resulted in the Reclaim the Night movement in London raising a large amount of money and organising a protest. Many women and men in London established a vigil not only for Sarah but also for women everywhere. Although the vigil was organised it was announced that it would not be made official as a result of Covid restrictions. Although it is understandable that authorities were wary of the implications of a large gathering during a pandemic, the significant response in regard to the murder meant that they could not simply ignore the people and they should have given the people an outlet to express their feelings. As a result, many people still gathered in order to pay their respects to Sarah Everard and to protest women’s rights simultaneously. They gathered respectfully, there was no intention of violence, it was simply a gathering of people who wanted to express their views in a respectful manner. The police were then brought in, in order to break up the event because of the Covid restrictions. However the women were then handled aggressively by the officers, they were grabbed and restrained and pinned to the ground which is evidenced in a number of videos and photos from the event. This response from the police seems to demonstrate further the violence that women still sadly experience. The police seemed to embody exactly what these women were protesting against and it does seem like a significant repression of their very existence. The photos are disgusting and the response was evidently the totally wrong way to deal with the situation. Those who were not respecting Covid restrictions should have been spoken to in a calm manner, there was never a need for aggression from the authorities.

It is clear that these events over the past couple of weeks demonstrated that there is still a significant amount of change that needs to happen in regard to women’s rights in this country [and many other countries across the world]. All that we can do is continue to protest for our rights and educate those who are unaware or ignorant of the fact that women are still experiencing inequality in this country.

Here are some great women’s rights organisations to check out:

https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/

https://www.womensaid.org.uk/

http://www.mybodybackproject.com/

https://www.refugeewomen.co.uk/

https://rightsofwomen.org.uk/

https://nawo.org.uk/

Important hotlines you can call:

24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247

Samaritans mental health hotline: 116 123

The Mix for under 25 year olds hotline: 0808 808 4994

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) for males hotline: 0800 58 58 58

Nightline website for students: https://www.nightline.ac.uk/want-to-talk/