Violence Against Women

 by Maya Choudhury

Sabina Nessa was murdered as she walked home. Why on earth is this only on the news because of the complaints that it wasn’t on the news in the first place?

Around the beginning of March, there was an uproar about the upsetting death of Sarah Everard. That was a wake-up call to action to stop murders like this happening. Yet there have been dozens of deaths since then but haven’t had much publicity. Brutality against any woman is abhorrent. What is also abhorrent is the minimal coverage and minimal clamour when it comes to the lives of people of colour. 

For example, there was a murder case with sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry. They were Black women, stabbed to death in June as they celebrated one of their birthdays at Fryent Country Park, Wembley. The police were not taking the case seriously. After their mother reported her daughters missing, the police failed to conduct a proper search and it was left up to their friends to find their bodies. Police Officers even had the audacity to take selfies with their bodies. There has been no vigil for them, nor has there been a vigil for the many other people of colour.

At my point of view, I feel that the way people and the media responded to the dreadful murder of Sarah Everard highlights the unfairness and inequalities between different sections in society.

There are so many types of abuse against women- domestic and societal, rape, enslavement inside and outside marriage, work-related abuse, the sex trade, trafficking, grooming… it is an endless list. The ownership of women by men or families stops women from speaking up. 

THIS HAS TO END.