This week marks the fifth anniversary of the brutal murder of Sarah Everard. At Solace, the third of March is a day to remember Sarah and a time to reflect on whether anything has, in fact, changed for women.
Sarah’s death was an unspeakable tragedy, but the resulting outpouring of grief and rage, alongside Met police rhetoric around new measures to support women’s safety, gave us hope. Finally, it seemed, people were listening and lasting change was here. Finally, a spotlight was shone on women’s perpetually tensed shoulders, the keys clutched in our hands, the shared locations, the promises to text when we get home – the quiet but ever-present undercurrent of fear with which we live and that men can’t begin to imagine. Finally.
But: based on headlines and Solace’s work with survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, as far as I can see, little has changed. The Met police have not sufficiently reformed. The average number of women killed by men in England and Wales remains stable. At Solace, we speak to women, every day, living in fear. The manosphere is as strong as ever, while allegation after allegation of sexual assault by high-profile men continue to surface.
If anything, since Sarah’s death, violence against women and girls has developed into a pattern: the appearance, station and importance of a perpetrator cease to surprise us. Men prominent in the 1990s not named in the MeToo movement are exceptions to the rule. The temporary nature of cancel culture, as far as men are concerned, is a given. And men continue to kill women.
Another pattern is the continued under-reporting of men killing women of colour. Without a doubt, race is a central consideration in decisions around which faces make the front pages. This is not to say that Sarah Everard deserved less coverage than her case received, far from it – but all women killed by men should receive the same outrage on their behalf, their families the same empathy. This principle extends to older women as well, whose murders also receive less attention compared to their younger counterparts.
But we refuse to accept this as the norm. We refuse to bend ourselves further out of shape to fit into a world where women’s lives are seen as less. We will not cease to call out, clap back – to scream and shout if we must.
We will continue to hold decision makers to account: their ongoing inaction speaks as loudly as any sexist influencer. We have our eye particularly on the Met police – if nothing that’s happened so far has moved the force truly to change, what will? Women we support frequently speak of their lack of trust in the police. As a result, many are reluctant to report violence or abuse. How is it acceptable that this authority is failing 50% of the population in this way?
The Government’s VAWG Strategy was welcome, however it’s difficult to discern significant movement towards that 50% drop in violence against women and girls they promised upon entering office.
The world can seem like such a hopeless place for women right now, but we refuse to give up hope. Solace will never stop until the day no woman has to live in fear. We will not rest until everyone sees it as their responsibility to end violence against women and girls.