It could easily have been us: Sarah Everard’s fate is a reminder of the dangers women face

On Wednesday 3 March, Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, set off home from her friends’ house in Clapham, South London at 9 pm. Her house in Brixton was just a 50-minute walk away and CCTV from a private doorbell camera shows Everard walking alone down the A205 Poynders Road, just south of Brixton at 9.15 pm. But it is unclear if she ever made it home.

By Friday, news of her disappearance had begun to spread and concern was increasing. Pictures started to circulate on social media of Everard wearing a bright blue jacket and trainers the night she went missing, and flyers appealing for anyone who might have seen her began appearing up and down Clapham High Street.

I live in the Clapham/Brixton area where the atmosphere grew tenser by the day. Walking down the street some people have started to give each other an even wider berth than social-distancing requires, women walking in groups suddenly seems more poignant and once the sun sets, the streets seem emptier than the week before.

When my housemate first told me that a young woman had gone missing 1.5 miles from our house I assumed she would turn up a few days later, and pushed any further thoughts out of my mind. But on Saturday morning as we drove past Clapham Common on the way to the supermarket, the reality of what had happened was made clear by hordes of volunteers in orange high-vis jackets combing the Common and fishing through the lakes, trying to find anything that might lead them to Everard’s whereabouts.

By Tuesday, Everard’s disappearance dominated the news and social media. The Met announced it had arrested a police officer in Kent in connection with the case and the reality of what had likely happened was somehow worse than our darkest suspicions. The arrest was devastating, and not enough to make the streets feel safe again. When my housemate put her coat on to drop off a present on a friend’s doorstep at 9 pm, we asked her to wait to go together in the morning. The fear had created a curfew for young women.

“I felt anxious walking for just ten minutes by myself in the dark on Saturday,” says Anna Fountain, a 23-year-old living in Brixton, “and this was before we even knew that it was a murder investigation.” She says she has been sent endless messages from friends, parents and grandparents asking her not to walk alone in the dark and will walk with “headphones in but not play music to ensure I can hear my surroundings” from now on. “I am concerned about my friends as well,” she says. “I will be extra vigilant ensuring no one is walking alone late at night.”

When The Sun reported that the police were visiting nearby houses and asking women to be careful when going out alone, anguish turned into anger as women questioned why it wasn’t men who should be kept off the streets at night instead. “Women are exhausted from being told how to be careful while existing,” says screenwriter Debby Mulvey. “I’m exhausted by being told that I have to change my route frequently to avoid being followed. I’m exhausted that society prefers to tell women to bend the space/time continuum and find infinite routes to exercise or commute to work rather than tackle the inherent issues with how women are treated by society.”

The anger catalysed the hashtag #TakeBackTheNight, a phrase borrowed from protests in Leeds in 1977 when women were being told to stay inside to stay safe from the so-called ‘Yorkshire Ripper’. Protesters across the country carried placards reading “No curfew for women, curfew for men”. This Saturday, a vigil will take place for Everard on the Common, organised under a similar hashtag: “#ReclaimTheNight”. Organised in Everard’s honour but also intending to reclaim the streets as a safe space for women, the Facebook event reads: “We believe that streets should be safe for women, regardless of what you wear, where you live or what time of day or night it is. We shouldn’t have to wear bright colours when we walk home and clutch our keys in our fists to feel safe.”

Everard’s disappearance triggered an outpouring of fear from women on social media, as people shared their stories of being followed or made unsafe whilst jogging, coming home from nights out or just walking alone. Stephanie Woodland, 31, took to social media to share the story of how she previously had to quit a job in Islington, North London, after a man tried to get her into his car at 2 am as she walked home after work. “There have been other times where I have made myself look like a boy by wearing a beanie just to go home late at night,” she says.

Everard was wearing bright clothing, it was dark but only 9 pm, her phone was charged, she rang her boyfriend fifteen minutes before she disappeared, she made plans to meet him the next day – Sarah Everard did everything right to protect herself and yet the unthinkable still happened. The fear is palpable for all women because it easily could have been us or our friends.

“Over the past week, before we heard about the tragic outcome, we heard messages about women not walking by themselves late at night or doing other things that ‘put themselves at risk’,” says Fiona Dwyer, CEO of the women’s aid charity Solace. “This is patronising towards women and does not highlight the key message that women should not have to change their own behaviours, but men should stop killing women. By all accounts, Sarah had planned her walk home based on what we as women learn from an early age – wear bright clothes, walk down well-lit main streets and keep in contact with others – this is an everyday occurrence for all women and this needs to change as it is not enough to protect women. The message is quite simple that men must stop their violence towards women.”

For Joanna Montgomery, a 43-year-old from London, it has made her reconsider everyday tasks “like taking the dogs out every night in the dark. I always Uber on a night out and rarely walk home – but did all the time in my 20s and 30s,” she says. Over the years she has developed strategies to feel safe; “I walk in the middle of the road, keys in hand, rape alarm and phone easily accessed, don’t listen to music, look around all the time and avoid empty train carriages.”

On Thursday, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, released a statement on Everard’s disappearance. “Many women have shared their stories and concerns online since Sarah’s disappearance last week. These are so powerful because each and every woman can relate. Every woman should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence,” she writes.

Scotland Yard has confirmed the police officer arrested over Everard’s disappearance had been arrested on suspicion of murder and that remains, thought to be human, have been discovered in the search. This morning, my housemate let me know she has ordered us and all of our close female friends’ small alarms that can be attached to our keys. “For extra security,” she says, “I couldn’t imagine if this ever happened to one of you.”