Politician calls for 6pm curfew for men after Sarah Everard’s disappearance

A House of Lords peer has suggested bringing in a 6pm curfew for men in efforts to maintain women’s safety.

Baroness Jenny Jones said that attitudes about women’s security need to change in light of the Sarah Everard disappearance case. Everard was last seen in Clapham in south London on 3 March after leaving a friend’s home and making her way back to Brixton.

The Green Party member added these comments while debating The Domestic Abuse Bill.

She said: “I would argue that at the opportunity for a bill that is appropriate, I might actually put in an amendment to create a curfew for men on the street after 6 pm, which I feel will make women much safer, and discrimination of all kinds would be lessened.”

These mirrored the calls of some Yorkshire women during the 1980s after the murders of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, who requested “no-go” areas for men.

Later, Baroness Jones experienced a flurry of misogyny and sexism in response, which she felt “proved her point about the problem being with men”.

She also told Sky News that “men don’t understand the pressure women are under” and that she was motivated to say something after police urged women to stay indoors after Everard’s vanishing.

This debate comes after a serving Metropolitan police officer was arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder after human remains were found in Kent, which has raised questions about police accountability and women’s fear of simply walking the streets.

Dawn Butler, shadow women and equalities minister spoke in the House of Commons about putting a Freedom of Information request to figure out how many UK police officers “have been investigated for domestic violence”.

She said: “One woman is killed every three days, but ask yourself this – what are we really doing about it? It is time for all those with the power to stop being bystanders in this pandemic and get involved.”

More: The matriarchal societies around the world that embrace the power of womanhood