Sarah Everard and the Effort to Reclaim the Night

On Mar. 3, 2021, 33-year-old Sarah Everard went missing in South London. On Mar. 9, her remains were found. Walking back from a friend’s house at around 9 p.m., she was kidnapped and murdered by a serving Metropolitan police officer. Thousands of women have since taken to social media in a fight to reclaim the streets. 

Wearing bright clothes, running shoes, walking along a main road and talking to her boyfriend on the phone, Sarah did all of the things women are told to do in order to avoid harm. It is for this reason why many are angry. The presence of a police officer at night should have made her feel safe, not turn into a tragic loss of life.

In 1977, in response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders, marches demanding that women ‘reclaim the night’ started. Police forces told women to stay inside after dark. This was echoed by the Metropolitan Police in light of Everard’s disappearance. 

In a time where going for a walk is the only form of refuge for some, women being told to stay at home is an unacceptable ask. We must look to the root cause of the issue: systemic and societal misogyny, instead of asking women to hideaway. According to the Femicide Census, every three days a woman dies at the hands of a man. Conversations about being hyper-aware of surroundings, holding keys between fingers and staying on the phone for the duration of a journey have taken place between women of all ages this week. These ingrained behaviors have never been questioned nor addressed in the masses until now. 

Speaking of the situation, Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that although it was every family’s worst nightmare, she assured the general public that “it is incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets.” While being taken from the streets may be rare, sexual harassment is not. 

Singer Nadine Shah said on Twitter, “I’ve been followed home too many times to count. Once I had to hide in a bush for over an hour until two men gave up looking for me. I could hear them plotting explicitly what they were going to do to me and laughing. The solution starts with respecting women.” 

A vigil planning to honor the life of Sarah was held on Mar. 13, in Clapham Common, London. Although canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, several hundred people still turned up to pay their respects. Whilst peaceful in nature, police created a push back resulting in unnecessary arrests. This wasn’t a protest, it was a vigil for a woman killed at the hands of one of their own. Labour leader Keir Starmer called the scenes “deeply disturbing” and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Daley has said that the Met Police Commissioner should resign.

Nationwide, people took to their doorsteps, shining a light or candle at 21:30 GMT to coincide with the last time Sarah Everard was seen on Mar. 3. 

One attendee of the vigil, who I had a written correspondence with, spoke to me regarding the scene at Clapham Common.

What was the atmosphere like at the vigil?

It’s hard to explain, we were all proud that we all came together and were not afraid but were also sad as we know Sarah isn’t the only one who has been through this. People were crying, mothers were explaining to their daughters what was going on and how this could affect them in the future. The atmosphere started to change as more police officers started to approach the vigil.

Was the vigil peaceful? What was the reaction of the police?

Yes, it was peaceful. We cannot choose who comes and who does not. What people need to remember is women are tired of being the victim. How the police reacted did not surprise me at all. Some police officers destroyed the flowers and the banners, showing us how they can abuse their power. The police officers are attacking women during this vigil, allowing the world to perceive women as criminals, not victims. What upset me is that female officers were used in the frontline, this is disrespectful to us as all women get treated the same, with or without uniform. 

97% of young women in the U.K. have been sexually harassed. (Hannah McKay | Reuters)

What do you think Sarah’s case means for women? What does it mean for you?

Every British woman has had enough and this was the last straw. Sarah’s case demonstrated that women can be fully covered and be on the phone with a loved one yet still be kidnapped and murdered. Instead of being taken seriously, people will question a woman on how they let this happen. If we don’t have the police, who do we have? Sarah’s case demonstrates that we women need to stick together because clearly, no one has our back.

97% of young women in the U.K. have been the victim of sexual harassment. Claire Barnett, executive director of UN Women U.K., said, “This is a human rights crisis. It’s just not enough for us to keep saying ‘this is too difficult a problem for us to solve’ – it needs addressing now.”