Hamza Ahmed discusses harassment of women, a year on from Sarah Everard’s murder and looks to see what has changed and what hasn’t.
On the 3rd of March 2021, Sarah Everard was walking home from a friend’s house and was kidnapped in South London. On the 10th of March 2021, her body was found in woodland near Ashford, Kent. She was murdered by Wayne Couzens a MET police officer.
Image by Hamza Ahmed
Sarah’s death sparked public outcry and led to many women sharing their personal experiences of feeling unsafe out on the streets. A report about women harassment in 2021 made by the UN says that 71% of women of all ages in the UK have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space – this number rises to 86% among 18-24-year-olds. On the 13th of March a vigil was held for Sarah Everard it was labelled an unofficial gathering by the MET, it saw some clashes between the public and the police. The vigil was seen as a breach of Covid rules as at the time a gathering of over a certain number of people led to a fine from the government. The police were there to enforce the fine and ensure that protestors would disperse however fights broke out and the MET was seen as using unnecessary force on protestors which led to people accusing the MET of being corrupt and anti-women.
I interviewed a Georgia Lewis a journalist who testified at an All-Parties Parliamentary Group inquiry into police conduct and powers after the Sarah Everard Vigil. Georgia discussed her views on the progress of women’s safety, what part the MET have played in women’s safety and her experiences on London streets
“I don’t think huge progress has been made for women’s safety-on this year’s International Women’s Day, the list of murdered women that the MP Jess Phillips reads out in parliament each year was longer this year than last year.”
“There is obviously still a massive problem with misogyny and taking sexual assault seriously in the MET. One of the most critical things to do is to take so-called “low-level sexual assault seriously such as flashing and cyber flashing. These crimes can easily escalate when men are emboldened because they get away with it.”
“I find it a bit hard to tell if the streets of London are safer these days because I have worked from home for more than two years now. But when I do go out, especially if I am out by myself at night and using public transport, I take the same precautions I always have – carrying my keys like a weapon, tucking my ponytail into my collar to make it harder to grab me by the hair, text my husband when I am leaving somewhere, my friends and I will text each other when we get home, I try not to sit in empty train carriages by myself.
Although I do wonder how effective any of this is when you are in a situation of real danger. I’m only 5’1, I have arthritis and two club feet- while I don’t let any of this stop me from going out, it is always in the back of my mind as to what would happen if someone attacked me”
Referring to the report made by the UN about women’s harassment in the UK, the graph above shows the percentage of women who have experienced sexual harassment in a public space by age as of January 2021. The results were received from a YouGov survey which asked the following question to a total of 1,089 women “Which, if any, of the following have you EVER personally experienced in a public space?”. According to the graph over 50% of all age groups of women have experienced harassment in a public space. The report mentioned that the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee in 2019, stated that “sexual harassment is the most common form of violence against women and girls” (House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee, 2018)
I interviewed 22-year-old Shameka Johnson, a third-year student at Goldsmiths University, she lives in Balham close to the area where Sarah Everard was kidnapped, and she discussed her own personal experiences of harassment and what measures could be put in place to combat the epidemic of constant harassment against women.
“All types of harassment happen in London, I think London is a central place for it to happen and there is a normalcy about that harassment, it becomes a normal thing, It seen as you’re expected to go through some sort of sexual harassment. The Sarah Everard case completely through me and my parents as it was so close to home, it was something that nobody expected to ever happen. Clapham common is seen as a casual place where families go, and friends meet up with each other for picnics. So, to see that on that news completely blindsided everybody and frightened me and my parents. I work late nights and since then my dad picks me up and drives me home, the sense of security and safety within the area we live in completely vanished”
“I feel like there Is a lot of harassment that takes place in workplaces and I feel like it is often that young people experience it, whether it’s their first job or their first workplace. You’re kind of made as an easy target… like I’m going to go for you, you’re new, you don’t know anybody and if you were to say anything nobody’s going to believe you because I’ve been here longer than you or I’m in a higher position than you, so I can make sure that any allegations you make against me can be refuted and ignored and that’s a lot we’ve seen throughout time, from the 1970s till now we’ve seen this power dynamic within workforces that have left victims traumatised.”
“When I first started working, I was eighteen years old, there was a colleague from another department who was much older than me. He would make sexual jokes involving me, at the time I was quite naïve even though it would make me feel uncomfortable and I didn’t like what he was saying, I just didn’t know how to voice my dislike about it or who to go to. I knew I had to go to my manager, but I didn’t want to make the situation a big deal as everyone would know about it and I didn’t know if I said something how the person would react to me going to somebody above them. There were always sexual jokes involving myself and them always touching me, putting their arms around me, pulling me into them and I would always shrug them off my shoulders. It didn’t register in their brain to stop doing what they were doing. It kind of went to a point where I went to them saying can you stop doing that. I don’t know where the confidence came from, but I was getting really annoyed with them.”
“Social media has developed so much where people come out and say they were sexually harassed at a club and this is how they treated and you see how there is not a lot of care or thought put into towards the victims, it is kinda brushed under the carpet like you’re one of many other people that this has happened. Like move on deal with it, get on with it. There is no empathy towards it much which is an extremely sad thing about all of this.”
A year on from Sarah Everard’s murder it doesn’t seem much has changed with women’s harassment and ensuring women’s safety. On Thursday, March 24th, a 40-year-old woman named Yasmin Begum from East London was murdered and a man in his forties has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Detective Chief Inspector Laurence Smith who is leading the investigation said “it is heart-breaking that yet another woman has been killed”