Senseless killing of Ashling Murphy is shocking example of dangers posed to women & society must answer tough questions
THE senseless killing of teacher Ashling Murphy has sent shockwaves throughout the country - with many calling for a zero-tolerance policy on crimes against women.
Women’s Aid say Ashling’s brutal death as she went for a jog is a “shocking example of the dangers posed to women”.
The organisation, which works to prevent and address the impact of domestic violence and abuse, says that 244 women have now been killed since 1996 when they began taking records.
Of those, 87 per cent of resolved cases were perpetrated by a man known to the victim, while 13 per cent of perpetrators were strangers.
SARAH BENSON, CEO of Women’s Aid, says: “The killing of women is the extreme end of a spectrum of violence and abuse that women in Ireland and across the world experience every day.
“The appalling killing of Ashling Murphy - a young woman - in Co Offaly yesterday is a shocking example of the dangers posed to women.
“We offer our sincere condolences to Ashling’s family, friends and community.”
Here Women’s Aid boss Sarah, writes about why we need to tackle the issue to ensure more female lives are not lost.
WE’VE been here before. Flowers laid at the scene. Condolences expressed.
Beautiful pictures shared of a woman whose life has been cruelly cut short.
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Genuine sadness, anger and sincere commitments that lessons must be learned. Never again.
Yet the focus fades with time, until the next appalling event. Women’s Aid has been recording the violent deaths of women for over 25 years.
Each time we add a name it is painful.
Our hearts ache, but we record these killings to illustrate the connection between the broad spectrum of male violence against women that ranges from sexist trolling, catcalling, groping, to intimate partner abuse, coercive control, sexual assault, rape, commercial exploitation, FGM (female genital mutilation) and the ultimate act of violence: femicide.
We record to encourage us all to strive and better prevent abuse and increase protections for women and girls.
More than this, we record each woman’s name so that we never forget her, and everything she and all her loved ones have been senselessly robbed of.
Femicide is the extreme end of the spectrum of violence and abuse that women in Ireland, and across the world, experience every day.
One in three women worldwide experience some form of violence by men in their lifetime.
The appalling killing of Ashling Murphy, a young woman, in Co Offaly yesterday is a shocking example of the dangers posed to women."
Sarah Benson
The appalling killing of Ashling Murphy a young woman, in Co Offaly yesterday is a shocking example of the dangers posed to women.
While homicide is rare and killings by a stranger even more so, Ashling’s death shows that women’s worse nightmares can come true.
As Ashling’s family, friends and community try to deal with this unimaginable loss, society has questions to answer.
Similar to the case of Sarah Everard, bottom, in the UK last year, public anguish has been immediate and intense since Wednesday evening.
Online, there has been an outpouring of women’s lifelong experiences of systemic misogyny and casual sexism and abuse.
Many women are sharing stories of how instinctively fearful they feel in public, and the strategies they employ to try to keep themselves safe.
EXPRESSED ANGER
Many women are expressing their anger and their dismay at constantly feeling that the burden of responsibility for men’s violence is put on their shoulders.
Inevitably discussion has already turned to what women should do to avoid being attacked - personal safety alarms, self-defense classes, staying in groups, keys held protruding from our fingers as we walk.
Every woman should have the right to be safe, both in their own homes and in their communities.
We need a zero-tolerance to all forms of male violence against women, and it will take all of us to commit to lasting change.
MISOGNY AND INEQUALITY
This, critically, includes men who must act as allies in tackling misogyny and inequality.
Men calling out degrading language, groping, sexist comments by their peers, is a simple but powerful and necessary act of solidarity with all the women in their lives.
Ignoring such acts at the ‘lower end’ of the spectrum of male violence against women can give the person behaving that way a sense that their actions are accepted, normal, even approved of by their peers.
This can have a cumulative effect that, in the worst of cases, can lead to increased levels of abuse up to and including the most violent of sexual and physical assaults on women.
There needs to be a commitment to education from the earliest ages to promote gender equality and respectful relationships between boys and girls that are grounded in respect, trust and parity of esteem.
ENCHANCED RESOURCES
We need continued and enhanced resources for specialist domestic and sexual violence services for victims/survivors and we need an improved criminal justice system that better protects women and holds perpetrators meaningfully to account.
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These three approaches are equally required: prevention, protection and prosecution.
If we do this, we will ultimately create a more equal and safe society for everyone, men and women alike.
