77 women have been killed by men in the last six months. How many more need to die?

Change isn’t coming fast enough


TW: Male violence, murder and misogyny

77 women were murdered within the last six months, which means more than 100 women in total have been killed by men in the UK since the start of 2021.

Sabina Nessa is the most recent name on the list of murdered women. She was a 28-year-old primary school teacher who was on her way to meet her friends at the pub. Her body was then discovered in Cator Park in Greenwich 24 hours after she was reported missing last Friday.

How many more women have to die before we see any kind of change? Campaigners like Andrea Simon, the chief executive of End Violence Against Women Coalition, don’t believe the amount of funding the government is putting forward will be able to meet the change that has been promised. She told ITV News, “Numbers of women coming forward to report are at all time highs, but we are still declining in terms of prosecutions.

“We’ve seen an apology for the appallingly low rate of rape convictions and prosecutions, but actually in the last six months, very little has materially changed.”

An Instagram account called Cute Cat Calls posted this graphic listing 77 names of women who have died in the last six months at the hands of men.

In her caption, she wrote: “All of these women on this list, including Sabina, deserve universal outrage, front page coverage so where is it? Where was the outrage for the women of colour in this list? The Trans women? Our non binary siblings? The women seeking refuge? Where is the fucking outrage that between 2009-2019 on average oNE woman in the UK was killed by a man EVERY THREE DAYS?”

There’s also a Twitter account called Counting Dead Women. It shares stories of violence where women have been killed by a man or where a man is the primary suspect.

Sabina Nessa’s tragic death proved we aren’t safe walking five minutes away from our homes. Ingrid Matthew’s death tells us some women aren’t even safe with their sons. Maddie Durdant-Hollamby’s death showed us we aren’t even safe with our boyfriends. Sarah Everard’s death proved we’re not safe with police officers. These are just four cases out of over 100. How many more women have to die before we see any kind of change implemented?

Women aren’t safe because male violence is so present in every single part of society you can imagine. For every woman who is murdered by a man, our fire and passion for female safety reignites and gets one thousand times stronger.

A vigil is being organised for Sabina Nessa this Friday at 7pm in Lewisham.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

Police officer pleads guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard

Women are sharing how men can make them feel more safe at night

‘I need to be proactive’: We asked boys what they’re doing to change their behaviour

Feature image courtesy of Ilyas Tayfun Salci on Shutterstock.