Women’s safety: where do we go from here?

Content warning: in this article, there is mention of sexual violence

For women across the UK, the last two weeks have been harrowing.

Following the senseless and tragic murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, who went missing in Clapham, South London on 3^rd March, the whole country has been in mourning – for Everard, for the Black women, women of colour and members of marginalised communities who are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence (and whose cases rarely get national news coverage), and for the fact it took the death of one of our own to bring this endemic issue into sharper focus.

In response, the government has promised to increase undercover police presence, namely in clubs and bars, in an effort to protect women against sexual assault and harassment. But this has thrown into question how we can trust the police to keep us safe, when as of March 2020, just 1.4 per cent of rape cases reported to them resulted in a suspect being charged – and so often, they are perpetrators too.

After Neve, 19, experienced a distressing instance of sexual harassment in North London last summer, she reported it to police without expecting much. Nonetheless, she was disappointed to see how they handled the case. ​“I think a show like I May Destroy You, for example, brilliantly portrays how shit the police are in these situations,” she says. ​“We had to remind them to write information down and one of the first things they said was, ​‘What’s the world come to, hey?’”

Although Neve will continue to report instances of sexual assault later in her life – a grim possibility she has resigned herself to – many of her friends haven’t, and don’t want to. She reflects on using social media as a means to educate men about the pervasive nature of harassment in our day to day lives: ​“At the end of the day, some guy who harasses you on the street isn’t going to see the post you make about it on Instagram, but your own male friends will.

“I’d like for them to check whether we’re okay, to have these difficult conversations with us about things they’ve learned, to have conversations with their mums and sisters, to call out abuse when they see it.” Ultimately, though, Neve feels cautiously hopeful that people are beginning to understand the severity of the safety crisis women face daily.

“It’ll be a slow process, but I think that once our generation has children, the world will take a turn for the better,” she continues. “[For now] I don’t see what the police can do to help me feel safer – everyone was so shocked by their violence at Sarah Everard’s vigil, but the police response to the Black Lives Matter protests [last summer] was even more brutal. These protests are always peaceful until the police turn up. It’s been going on for a long time.”

Now, our right to protest these injustices are at threat, too, as Home Secretary Priti Patel works tirelessly to pass a Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill which places stifling restrictions on our right to take to the streets. As it stands, the system is not fit for purpose, and there is a fundamental lack of trust in services that are currently in place to respond to issues of gender-based violence and systemic racism.

What if it doesn’t have to be this way? How can we use education as a preventative tool and turn this moment of country-wide reckoning to our advantage, in order to rally communities and tackle societal issues so intrinsic to the fabric of our society? It will take a village to undo all the harm, but many organisations are already hard at work.

Below, we spoke to five groups who are committed to tackling gender-based violence: about what we can do to end it in the long run, and some of the ways we can uplift each other in doing so.

Established in 2003, Tender is a charity which operates throughout England to provide preventative training and workshops on abuse and sexual harassment in schools, universities and workplaces, often via drama classes

How effective are preventative methods in tackling gender-based violence?

We recognise that it’s challenging to prove that you’ve prevented something from happening, but if you’ve increased someone’s knowledge of what domestic abuse is or the components of an unhealthy relationship, that’s equipping people with knowledge of what to look out for while also considering their own behaviour. That’s something we’ve really seen as we increase the work we do with adults – that people in workplaces are really thinking about their own actions and how these can affect others.

How can education help to put an end to it in the long run?

It’s all about increasing the level of the conversation. Education gives you the tools to be able to consider relationships in a certain context, but you can only do so much in schools to instil those messages. You need to practice these sensitive conversations around consent and feel confident in calling out red herrings, or to recognise when someone blames victims. Have those conversations confidently, and don’t let the oxygen get sucked out of them by saying things like ‘“not all men’”. We know that. Let’s focus on change and stop turning it into some kind of argument that doesn’t need to be happening. Susie McDonald, Chief Executive

An Instagram account founded in June 2020 that seeks to empower sexual abuse survivors by publishing their testimonies – so victims know they’re not alone and that there’s no shame in what happened to them

What’s the main thing you’ve learned since establishing the platform?

I’ve learned about the importance of inclusivity in this dialogue. The only way we can really change things and transform attitudes is by getting everyone on board and active within this conversation. We all need to take responsibility for a culture that is so widespread, so endemic, and so deeply entrenched in the fabric of society.

What are some measures we can take in our day to day lives to help put an end to gender-based violence?

Practise empathy. Try to understand other people’s experiences. Do your best to open up these conversations with the people in your life and listen. Adopt a no-tolerance policy, call it out when you see it, and stop being friends with abusers who don’t change their behaviour. Soma Sara, Founder