Sarah Everard (Family Handout/CPS/PA)
(Picture: PA Media)For the past 12 months, the same two refrains have been repeated among women where I live in south London, a mile and a half from where Sarah Everard was kidnapped. The first is a horrified whisper: when did she realise that she was in danger? The second, a familiar fear: it could have been any one of us.
Sarah’s murder by a serving Metropolitan Police officer shocked the world. But for women in London it has left an indelible mark. “I run past the Clapham Common bandstand most mornings,” says Joanna Cotton, 37, “and I always say a little prayer for her.” Women feel little has changed since Boris Johnson promised last March to “do everything we can” to improve women’s safety. Or as Jamie Klingler of Reclaim These Streets puts it: “The watershed moment? They did nothing.”
The number of women killed by men since Sarah does little to dispel that sense. Karen Ingala-Smith of Counting Dead Women tells me that 125 women have been murdered since March 3, 2021. We know some of the victims’ names: Sabina Nessa, the 28-year-old teacher murdered in south-east London; Julia James, 53, killed while walking her dog in Kent; Ashling Murphy, 23, attacked when out jogging in Ireland. But for every woman who makes headlines, many more never do.
Nor will most women who survive male violence see justice. In January, Home Office data showed that rape convictions in England and Wales at an all-time low, with 1.3 per cent of cases prosecuted. Reports of sexual offences in London rose by 25.1 per cent last year, according to the ONS, but fewer than one in six women report rape as they fear police won’t “do anything about it”.
Little wonder. An Independent Office for Police Conduct report last month revealed hundreds of sexually violent messages sent between police at Charing Cross station (including: “I would happily rape you”) and led to the resignation of Commissioner Cressida Dick.
Sexual offence allegations against Met officers have doubled in the year since Sarah’s death and three officers were recently charged over sharing misogynistic messages with her killer, Wayne Couzens. Fewer than one in 10 officers in Britain found guilty of gross misconduct loses their job. Which might explain why a YouGov poll in November found that just 29 per cent of women now trust the police.
Instead, they tell their stories online. Last March, Everyone’s Invited exposed claims of rape culture in Britain’s education system. Founder Soma Sara, 23, has received more than 54,000 anonymous testimonies. “The fact that so many of the women who share their stories don’t feel able to report to the police is testament to a total lack of trust,” says Laura Bates, who has been collating anonymous testimonies for a decade via her Everyday Sexism project. “No woman shares her story on social media because that is her first choice.”
So what has changed? “We are more aware of the scale of the problem. But in practical terms, measures to actually protect women, improve policing or tackle perpetrators are pretty thin on the ground,” says MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy, a leading voice in the fight to see misogyny made a hate crime. On Monday MPs voted against including this in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill despite several police chiefs urging the Home Secretary to reconsider. “I think it speaks to the failure to properly understand misogyny as a toxic force in our society,” Creasy says.
Instead, the Home Office announced that it is including violence against women and girls in the Strategic Policing Requirement — giving it the same priority level as terrorism. At least, say some, that makes a change from simply another review. “The Home Secretary’s announcement could be a game-changing move,” says Victims’ Commissioner Dame Vera Baird. “However, we need to see further action to achieve real change.” There are some wins in the policing bill. One amendment will see “breastfeeding voyeurs” added to the sex offenders register and jailed for up to two years, another gives domestic abuse victims more time to report crimes.
A significant gap is around public sexual harassment. As things stand, not even an official definition of “harassment” is being included in the bill.
“Almost nothing has tangibly changed because we continue to focus on solutions that blame women,” says Bates. “Women are not the problem here. It is absurd and deeply offensive that the police should be telling women to flag down buses and carry drink testing kits instead of recognising their own institutional failings.”
In the absence of real change, women have altered their behaviour. “I don’t get drunk like I used to because I don’t like the thought of not being alert,” says Moira Rose, 38. “It’s a five-minute walk from the train to my house and if it’s dark I call my partner because I do feel scared. I am very conscious of my gait and choices — should I cross the road or stay in the street lights?”
On street lights: one of the most tangible government pledges last year was to increase the Safer Streets Fund by £25 million. By the end of 2021, another £23.5 million had been pledged, with London boroughs, including Lambeth where Sarah was taken, getting close to £1 million. Critics point out that lighting and cameras aren’t specific solutions for women’s safety and have been previously used to deter car theft. They also turn the focus back on women — like the Government-backed Path app, which tracks our journeys home.
So are there any green shoots of hope? Several initiatives have been launched in recent weeks: the Government’s “Enough” advertising campaign, which encourages us to call out misogynistic behaviour. Sadiq Khan is asking male sports stars to speak to men and boys about their role in making women safer and TfL launched a poster campaign to warn commuters against behaviour such as staring and touching. The Met is starting “walk and talks” in London, for women to buddy-up with an officer and relay concerns about specific areas. All welcome, though “why wasn’t it announced 11 months ago?” tweeted Klingler about the Mayor’s campaign.
“I know the most important part is women are talking to their partners and friends about it,” concedes Klingler when we speak. “I think men are questioning their responsibility and ability.”
Founder of the Women’s Equality Party Sophie Walker thinks the biggest piece of the puzzle is still being ignored, however. “There’s more conversation, but the stats are the same. There are more people suggesting apps, lighting and flagging down buses, but we ignore the crucial fact that violence against women is cause and consequence of inequality. Until the people with real power understand that, we are not tackling the violence but just talking about it.”
Or as Stella Creasy puts it: “I don’t think we’ve seen the progress that we need and the window of opportunity is fast closing.”
