She walked back home around 9:30 PM after visiting a friend. But she did not come home. Sarah Everard (33) was kidnapped and murdered. The body of the British woman was found in a forest to the east of London.
“The story can in a way be compared to the story of Anne Faber in the Netherlands and it stirs up a lot,” says correspondent Tim de Wit in the NPO Radio 1 radio program. News and Co. “The feeling that lives among many women is: this could have happened to me too. And it confirms that it is not at all safe on the street at night. It happened in a neat neighborhood that is not known as unsafe. Due to the strict lockdown measures there is no one on the street and that increases the feeling of insecurity. “
The main suspect is a 48-year-old police officer. He was a member of a team that protects the prime minister’s official residence, among other things. “That makes the story even stranger, that a policeman is the main suspect,” said De Wit.
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I always have the Find My Friends option on my phone.
According to Annelies Valk, who lives and works in London, the news is coming hard. “Sarah Everard was basically doing everything you should. She was wearing light clothes and shoes that you can run on, she called her boyfriend and she was walking down big, lit streets.”
According to Valk, the murder makes women realize that they unconsciously create safety mechanisms for themselves. “For example, I would never get into an Uber taxi if my phone’s battery is dead and I always have the Find My Friendsoption on my phone. You’ll hear more tricks from women this week to make themselves feel safe. You did not realize that that was crazy “, says Valk in News and Co.
Many women share their experiences on social media under #SarahEverard. The mail Text me when you get home got trending on Instagram yesterday. For many women this request is recognizable when they go home alone: “Will you let me know when you get home?”
The murder sparked a debate about street safety in Britain. A campaign has started, #ReclaimTheStreets in the UK, where women argue for safe access to the streets at night.
Later today, a vigil would be held in the ward where Sarah Everard was kidnapped. But under the current corona measures it is not allowed and therefore the vigil has been canceled by the organization. “You notice that there is a great need to think about this”, says De Wit. The murder does get a lot of attention online.
The debate is not only conducted from the perspective that you have to protect women, notes Annelies Valk. “On Twitter you see a picture – and not only in the UK, but also in the Netherlands – where”protect your daugthers‘is crossed out and it says ‘educate your sons‘ below. We shouldn’t have to constantly have that narrative that we should protect women. Maybe it’s also the way men approach women. “
Marije Cornelissen of UN Women Netherlands also sees that men increasingly declare their solidarity. “Young men are increasingly speaking out.”
A Brit living close to where Everard went missing wonders what he can contribute:
Yet, according to Cornelissen, men and boys are often left out of the debate. “We then say: women experience violence. As if that violence came out of the blue. The perpetrators often remain out of harm’s way. The vast majority of perpetrators are men, but (fortunately) the vast majority of men are not perpetrators. How can we ensure it? that men realize what they are doing to women with street harassment?
Cornelissen sees the debate about safety on the street flaring up in the Netherlands as well, following the death of Sarah Everard. “You also saw this happen when the 16-year-old Rotterdam student Hümeyra was murdered. Every time it is seen as an incident, while violence against women is structural violence.” Every year, 87,000 women are murdered worldwide, next year UN Women expects this number to exceed 100,000, due to global lockdowns and corona measures.