Reclaim the Streets march through Hastings, 23 October 2021

Jaywalking

Women’s Voice secretary, Megan Cronin, wrote this speech for the online vigil held on 13 March 2021 following the murder of Sarah Everard. As we approach the anniversary of Sarah’s murder, it is sad to see that nothing has changed in terms of women’s safety and trust in the UK police force. Over the weeks leading up to International Women’s Day, HOT will feature articles by Megan and the Women’s Voice Collective looking at life for contemporary women.

Megan Cronin

It’s night-time and I’m walking home alone. I’m almost home and I’m jaywalking the last stretch because I’m a little afraid. In one hand, I clench my house key. In the other, I clench my phone to my ear and I’m talking to someone, anyone. I’m telling them that I’m almost back. In the end, I get home safe. As I always have done. I let myself into my flat and lock the world out. I think I am irrational. Paranoid. Nothing happened on the way home. I wasn’t shouted at. But I’ve been shouted at before. Wasn’t catcalled. That has happened before. I wasn’t followed (on foot or by car) but that has happened before. No-one leered or lurked or cornered me or touched me — that has all happened before. No. I got home safe, and I think I was silly for being so afraid. I also think it’s a bit bonkers I walked in the road to keep myself safe from someone who might jump out at me. I just made it likely that I’d be hit by a car. However, certain very tragic events happen that make me, make us women, realise that these feelings of fear or fight or flight that we experience on our streets convinced with all the things we do to ‘keep ourselves safe’ (even if we know we’re not the problem and these things probably won’t work) are not irrational at all. These thoughts, feelings, things we do aren’t silly. If over time, harassment has become normalised, men are never held accountable for their actions and we hear stories, constantly, that chill our blood, we aren’t irrational for being afraid or hyper-aware of every footstep we hear behind us, every rustle in darkened alleys, every car that crawls past with a pair of stony eyes glaring from behind a tinted window. Our fears are legitimate, and we should not have to live like this. Public street harassment, misogyny, violence against women are all very real. We knew this before the Guardian article about sexual harassment came out. We knew this before Sarah and Blessing’s lives were taken. So how much trauma and death does it have to take before things change?

80% of women of all ages said they’d experienced sexual harassment in public places.
Guardian

Women make up half the population. 80% of women of all ages said they’d experienced sexual harassment in public places. Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone. Women are being targeted. That’s pretty clear. This should no longer be something that ‘happens to women’. Perpetrators must be held accountable. The onus should not be on women to modify their behaviour. We are clearly not the problem.

Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone.
Refuge

Sarah and Blessing were just like us, with their likes, dislikes, hobbies, talents, quirks. Misogyny perpetuates the myth that women aren’t human but something Other and separate. The dehumanisation of women makes it easier for us to be controlled and objectified, mocked, hated, killed and exploited by a rotten system that seeks only to serve itself. The tragedy that Sarah, Blessing and countless women’s lives have been cut short due to misogyny is already overwhelming. These women should be alive today…But as they are no longer with us, we must remember them well. We must, in our minds, remember all of these women as people who had plans, worlds, humanity, just like we do. And then with all that in mind, we must understand and talk about the magnitude and reality of femicide and hold the constantly insidious, ever-morphing patriarchy responsible.

It’s time for us to root down stronger than we ever have before, take up our rightful spaces, link together and form the strongest network we can: within our community, across the country and across the world. Resistance is tough and exhausting: we will need each other.

We need to use both words and deeds and to share our experiences and shape them into meaningful action.We will empower ourselves to save ourselves, because we cannot rely on empty promises or the voices telling women ‘… later … we’ll help you after we sort something else more pressing’. This IS pressing. We ARE a priority.
And for the men who are silent, who are now failing to take responsibility, I have this for you in the words of Arundhati Roy:

Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable.

We shouldn’t have to be jaywalking alone into our future. We shouldn’t have to hope we get home safe. We should be certain that we will.

Women’s Voice has been active in Hastings for over ten years. All women are welcome to get involved with Women’s Voice events and activities. You can find out more by visiting the website, Facebook and Instagram.

Also in: Point of View