Everything has to change

Since Sarah Everard’s tragic death there has been a huge outpouring of grief.

We must interrogate, why is it that so many women feel so scared of men for so much of the time?

And why are some men so violent towards women?

I’ve been thinking about it all week. I've been looking at what other people have been suggesting. And I think everything needs to change.

We need to be teaching consent in schools from a young age.

We need to look at the way we talk to boys and the expectations that we put on them. That means that they’re more likely to become violent later in life.

We need a mass public awareness campaign to explain what it means to be an active bystander. That needs to be on travel networks, in nightclubs, in workplaces, in pubs, gyms and sports grounds.

Men need to call out other men. They need to change their own behaviour in public spaces so that women can feel safer.

And the design of our public spaces has to change so that people feel safe.

We need to have more legislation. And the right legislation.

Misogyny needs to be a hate crime, so it is treated as severely as crimes motivated by racial or religious hatred.

The Domestic Abuse Bill, first promised four years ago, needs to finally be passed.

The Government must ratify the Istanbul Convention. This would amongst other things create a requirement to increase the number of shelters for survivors.

We need to have resources and training for police. So violence against women is prosecuted.

Women are angry. And we are exhausted.

This collective outpouring has to be a watershed moment.