Reclaim the night

Because the night, belongs to lovers
Because the night, belongs to us

I’m going to go a bit off-piste here, so bear with me. We’ve been talking a lot in the last few months about the need to improve diversity in the sector, and bring in more women, more people from a variety of backgrounds, whether ethnic or social. By doing so we will have a sector that better reflects the communities it serves, and will mean a better throughput of workers to take-up the gaps left by an ageing workforce.

There’s also been a lot of emphasis upon making the workplaces in this sector welcoming and safe spaces for people who, looking at it from the outside, might be slightly put off it by the whole ‘construction’ and ‘building’ angles.

Which is all well and good. However, work is only a small part of what we do in our lives. It’s an important part, sure. But it’s not everything. What about safe spaces outside of the workplace?

I went on a march on Saturday night, waved a placard, shouted slogans. That’s something I’ve not done since I was at University. It was to mark both the UN International Day Against Violence Against Women and Girls, and to celebrate the passing into law of a Private Members Bill by my local MP, Greg Clark.

The Protection Against Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act 2023 makes it a crime to sexually harass someone in a public place, in the same way that it shouting racial abuse in the street at someone has long been considered not only unacceptable, but also criminal. It has been illegal to sexually harass someone at work for some time, but, until now, there has been no specific criminal offence of deliberately harassing someone in public, even when it’s clear that it’s not just ‘banter’, but is intended to cause distress, humiliation or even actual harm.

The Act started out being about women, kick-started when a young constituent of Clark’s, a sixth former at one of our local schools, told him about being followed on her way home from school by a man in a car spewing forth a barrage of sexual innuendo and unwanted comments. Clark was horrified to find out how often this was happening on the streets of a middle-class town in Kent. Every woman I know has a tale to tell of some kind in this vein. We all know to avoid certain roads or paths after dark, and to walk home with our keys in our hands, sharp bits pointing outwards.

My lovely friend Emma did a piece on the radio about our walk on Saturday night, which you can listen to here, at 3:41. See if you can spot my bit!

Our streets should be safe, not just for women, but for everyone, for young boys, for young men, for anyone who’s just a bit different. Anyone who may well find themselves in a situation, not of their making, where they are, at best made to feel uncomfortable or threatened, and at worst, well, you only have to look at the news every week to know what ‘at worst’ constitutes.

Men, women, teenagers, boys, girls: they should be able to walk around the streets of a first world country without being harassed, intimidated or attacked.
How many planet-killing car journeys are made that don’t need to be because it’s safer to drive than to walk the short journey after dark? It’s not as though the public transport alternatives are exactly reliable. As the parent of teenagers who are regularly stranded or delayed by buses that are late or never turn up, I know this only too well.

So, yes, by all means work on making the merchanting workplace a safe and welcoming place for people, but let’s also make the space outside work safe too.
#Reclaimthenight

No-one says it quite like The Boss