The injustice that I want to discuss this week did not happen on US soil but is heavily correlated to a reoccurring injustice that does happen daily in the United States. In London a 33-year-old woman, Sarah Everard, was walking home from a friend’s house when she was kidnapped and murdered by a police officer. This is a lot to unfold, and I want to break it apart slowly. This horrific instance taps into two different reoccurring injustices, first it brings attention to the ongoing problem with police and their violence. It also brings attention to the difference of gender roles. Women are not only seen as less but are constantly in much more danger than males are. They are constantly being told not to walk alone, to carry a weapon, to not wear certain things and so many others to avoid being harmed. This has become the society norm, and this is not ok. We should be protecting woman; we should not be allowing men to hold this much power over them. They are the subaltern in most situations, and it is becoming ridiculous. Woman are underrepresented and shutdown when standing up for what is right. Their voices are not being amplified and horrible tragedies keep occurring. The continuous instances of police brutality show a direct correlation to the system that is broken and dangerous. People should not have to fear a system that was made to protect them. These reoccurring problems if not dealt with will only leave to more problems and more violence. Woman should feel safe in their communities and everyone should feel safe around law enforcements.
The most alarming thing I have noticed doing my research is how many woman college students are sexually assaulted. Going off of the earlier topic, woman should feel safe walking in their community and should not fear being assaulted. The current statistic is that 1 in 6 woman will be sexually assaulted while in college. This is 20% of all woman and an incredibly high statistic. Another high statistic is that 80% of college students and 72% of older woman DON’T report assault to officers. For a various amount of reasons but the major one being a lack of trust. The officers in our community are supposed to protect us and make us feel safe and how will that work if they are not trustworthy and also in the news constantly for going against their badge. When woman hear stories about woman like Sarah Everard it puts them in a state of fear and makes reporting assault an extremely difficult process, more than it already is.
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/living/family/linda-lewis-griffith/article219935160.html
Hi,
Thank you for sharing this, your analysis was spot on. I am glad you chose to highlight this difficult topic as your presentation because it impacts all women every single day. I really don’t think men will ever understand the innate fear we all have all the time. I really hope the future holds much better for us.