On March 3, 2021, Sarah Everard, fully dressed from head to toe in long pants, several t-shirts plus a hat, a big jacket, and sneakers, was walking alone at night going to her house. She was also on the phone with her boyfriend while walking home. A few minutes later, Sarah was kidnapped and murdered. Sarah was FULLY DRESSED, and she was ON THE PHONE WITH SOMEONE, yet she was still very unsafe and killed.

The issue of women’s safety, especially in the past few years, has become a huge issue. A lot of women like Sarah just want to go home, but they don’t get to get home. Something happens to them. Young girls and women live in fear, because they know it can happen to any woman. You can literally just step out of your door and someone harasses you, kidnaps you, or something way worse than that. Therefore, it is truly not surprising that a lot of women have the question, “why”? Why is there an issue of safety, and why isn’t safety guaranteed for women, as naturally as it is for most men? Why do women have to buy tasers or pepper sprays just to be able to leave their homes? Why can’t a woman work late without being in fear of something bad happening while going home at late night hours? Why are some women even scared to enter an UBER, because they don’t want to be kidnapped, sexually harassed, or molested? The list of “whys” goes on, and on, and it is totally ridiculous that women have to go through all these just, because they are women!

One of the major problems too many women face is catcalling. Catcalling according to the, Oxford Dictionary is, “making a whistle, shout, or comment of a sexual nature to a woman passing by.” More than 30 percent of women and girls get catcalled every single day. These women could just be going to work or school, and some might just be trying to get home after a hard day.  They are really just trying to live their lives, and they want to live it without random men on the street screaming something overly sexual at them or commenting on their body, and what they are wearing. This is extremely unacceptable, because why can’t someone just walk on the street in peace? We all deserve safety, and being catcalled is not safe at all for women, and this brings a huge amount of fear in every woman.

There are a lot of women with stories of men flashing them on the trains or on the bus. There are so many stories of men pressing their penises on women, whether it’s on the bus or the train. There are so many stories which are very disgusting, but it’s sadly what a lot of women have to face everyday. 

It is disturbing that women have to take extra-extra-extra measures to protect themselves from men who can’t keep their hands and thoughts to themselves; men who lack self-control and respect for women. There are thousands of Tik Tok videos out there, helping women understand what kind of self defense weapons they need to get, whether it’s pepper spray, a whistle, or a taser. In addition, there are several Tik Tok videos out there advising women on how they are supposed to act in public, so as to prevent any extra attention on them. Should women really need to watch Tik Tok videos to prepare them for different types of danger, which most women will face at least once  in their lifetime? As a society, we have really failed to educate our men and boys. Instead we have focused so much on telling women how to protect themselves from men, most of whom were obviously not taught at all.

Women just want to live their lives without fear of a thousand bad things happening to them. Although, we always raise awareness to these topics and more, what is actually being done to address them? Hundreds of women have gone missing in the past few years, and no one is doing anything about it. A lot of young girls and women are raped and sexually harassed daily, but no one is doing anything about it. The government really needs to do better in protecting women and ensuring their safety! More laws should be put in place in regards to this, and women should be taken more seriously when they make a sexual harassment complaint to the police and on social media. Sexual harassment stories should not just be brushed off with, “boys will always be boys.” The government has to step up and take action, we need to do better!