“She was only walking home” – those five words out of thousands relayed in a statement in the House of Commons held so much power.
The anger and outrage over the murder of Sarah Everard and growing concerns of those experiencing sexual harassment, has caused a catalyst of government action.
“Thousands of individuals shared their own experiences of sexual harassment both on and off social media”
Since the investigation, a number of suggestions have been conversed by the government, including additional funding into CCTV and lighting, and undercover police officers in bars and clubs.
Thousands of individuals shared their own experiences of sexual harassment both on and off social media, which urged the government to reopen the Violence Against Women Survey.
The survey originally opened on 10th December 2020 for 10 weeks and the evidence aims to shape the next Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
Violence against women is defined by the government on the survey as: “violence or abuse that affect women and girls more than men. This can include sexual offences, domestic abuse, stalking, upskirting, female genital mutilation, ‘honour-based’ abuse as well as many others.”
Priti Patel revealed that the government’s reopening of the Violence Against Women survey had received over 78,000 submissions. Initial call for evidence reached around 18,000 submissions, however the reopening of the survey gained as described by Priti Patel as a “completely unprecedented” number of responses. Submissions gained from the opening of the survey on Friday 12th March had already reached 78,000 by Monday 15th March at 11am.
Commenting on this increase Priti Patel said: “That is completely unprecedented and considerably more than the 18,000 responses received over the entire ten week period when the survey was [originally] opened.”
After the revelation in the House of Commons on Monday 15th March, on 17th March the survey had received more than 137,000 responses.
https://twitter.com/pritipatel/status/1372176428112957455
Within her statement, Patel referenced her heartache over the death of Sarah Everard in five words – “She was only walking home.” She reflected on the shared experiences of others by saying: “It has rightly ignited anger at the danger posts women by predatory men, an anger I feel as strongly as anyone.”. Continuing: “Too many of us have clutched our keys in our fists, in case we need to defend ourselves. And that is not okay.”
Evidently, too many women and individuals resonated with the statistic revealed by the Guardian that 97% of 18 to 24 year olds have been sexually harassed.
“The response to the statistics has been astounding”
Going forward, the government aims to put together a better strategy for tackling violence against women and girls. They want to understand the types of violence and crimes that are affecting women and girls and how they can stop these.
The response to the statistics has been astounding, however in the words of Priti Patel: “that is not okay”.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Featured image courtesy of Deniz Fuchidzhiev on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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