When looking back at the past seven months, we can’t count the number of empty promises held by the government and people whose job it is to protect us.
The events of March 2021, when Sarah Everard's body was found after days of her going missing, fuelled outrage worldwide and highlighted the epidemic of violence against women and girls. There was grief for a woman who we now know was falsely arrested, raped and murdered by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens.
We have heard government officials tell us that they are working tirelessly to fix systemic issues within our society that result in violence towards women and girls, as well as sexual harassment, sexual assault and misogyny from men, but where is this work?
We haven’t seen anyone elicit any change towards the sexism that is rife within our communities. In fact, the same head of police, Cressida Dick, who said the police shouldn't have to deal with reports of misogyny and that it should not be a criminal offence, described rapist killer Couzens as just "an occasional bad'un".
The policing bill currently in committee stage in the House of Lords will allow police to have more powers. One part of the bill gives no clear standpoint on what they will allow police to do with regards to a 'digital strip search', whereby an officer can request a victim’s phone after an allegation of sexual violence so they can search through years of data. If you don’t surrender your phone, they can drop the investigation against your attacker.
Some of these digital searches have resulted in officers asking women about previous partners, whether they have sent explicit messages or pictures to partners, and whether they have engaged in certain sexual activities. All are actions that do not excuse any violent behaviour of men towards women.
The response I personally had via a letter from the Home Office stated they were putting more funding into street lights. Street lights do not stop sexual assault. The majority of assaults happen in the home, at work, at school.
If the government really want to enact change, as they keep claiming, they need to stop handing police more powers that could enable more violence. It could review the curriculum and insist students are taught about misogyny and sexual harassment to stamp out ‘lad culture’ and ‘rape culture’. It could put forward legislation that protects women and girls, and make the process of reporting these crimes easier with more support for victims.
Male violence towards women has become so profoundly engrained into our society that when women talk about it, people often dismiss it and say it’s ‘not all men’. These violent men are people you spend time with at the pub, they're teachers, doctors, police officers with wives and children. A friend who talks about women as if they were objects is one of these men.
The government need to act right now to prevent male violence against women and girls. Even March was too late for Sarah.
