“We’re still living in a patriarchy in 2021”: Politician talks crimes against women
- Beth Farrell
- Feb 12, 2022
- 2 min read
A Sheffield politician believes the police and government need to do more to protect women, since crimes against them have skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of arrests for domestic abuse-related crimes between 1 April and 30 June 2020 increased by 14% compared with the same period in 2019, from 55,697 to 63,373.
Women’s Equality Party politician, Charlotte Mead said: “Men keep killing women, it needs to stop. We still have 2 women every week that are killed by violent men.
“Since Sarah Everard, 90 women have been killed by men.”
97% of women have experienced harassment or sexual harassment in a public place and 2 women a week are being killed by (ex)partners.
“The problem is that the onus has always been on women to keep ourselves safe. Don’t walk here, don’t go there, don’t drink too much, don’t wear a short skirt, don’t talk to strange men.
“Because society is mainly run by men, society has never wanted to take that responsibility.
“We’re still living in a patriarchy in 2021” she added.
Since the Sarah Everard case has reverberated all over the country, the police, government and local councils are being challenged to put more in place to protect women.
The Met Police issued advice to women who are approached by police which included flagging down a bus if they did not trust the officer.
Ms Mead believes that the focus should be placed on how to prevent male violence in the first place rather than teaching women to defend themselves.
The feminist politician added: “It could be you, it could be me, it could be anybody, it could be one of our friends, it could be one of our family and even if it’s not, it’s somebody that has been killed because she is a woman.
“As sisters we all need to stand together and keep talking about it. Otherwise it won’t change, nothing will change.
“We need to start somewhere and we need to come up with some sort of strategy where this doesn’t just carry on happening as a part of life, because it’s not and it doesnt need to be.
"We can change it but we need to proactively do something about it which will take effort from everybody.”
(Example of work completed for 3rd year news project at university)
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