This month has been heavy for anyone looking at sexual assault or harassment, and heavy for women in general. We started the month with International Women’s Day where we spotlighted the women that inspire us, which you can find on our blog and Instagram. We also showed some of the women behind our research, and heard their passion for this campaign and their reasons for joining.
We’ve also looked at the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s 2020 report, and the insight it gives us into racial harassment at university. It became apparent early on in our campaign that the issue of sexual assault and harassment intersects with those of racism and student safety, which is why we wanted to highlight the findings from this report and continue to emphasise the importance of adopting an intersectional approach when looking at issues that students experience.
Finally, following International Women’s Day, we were hit with the shocking news of the killing of Sarah Everard, simply walking out at night. This has sparked anger, fear and student protests, pushing us to reflect on our campaign and how far policy really can go. We will move forward from this by paying greater attention to the culture change that must accompany policy reform on university campuses.
We’re now looking into the student protests that have occurred to break down student experience and anger and what this means for our campaign. We’ll also continue to share relevant research and reports so that we continue to help people to understand the policy issues that impact them and their safety at university. This month, we’ll be looking at rape and the UK justice system. We’re also currently finishing off our report of policy recommendations from our research and will have this available for access soon.
RTC love always x