A Green Party peer who suggested a 6pm curfew for men in the wake of Sarah Everard’s disappearance has told Sky News: “I just don’t think that men understand the pressure that women are under.”
Baroness Jenny Jones of Moulescoomb told Sky News that the idea was “not an entirely serious suggestion” and is not party policy.
She made the suggestion in the House of Lords on Wednesday, as peers debated domestic abuse legislation.
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6pm curfew for men ‘would make women safer’
“I was just trying to highlight that when the police victim blame by asking women to stay home, we don’t react. We just think it’s normal,” Baroness Jones said.
Asked if this would just be inflicting on men what women have to endure, even though it is self-imposed, she replied: “Exactly. That’s my exact point.
“That in fact nobody makes a fuss when, for example, the police suggest women stay home. But when I suggest it, men are up in arms.”
Baroness Jones added: “If this has sparked intense scrutiny, I’m really happy.”
She said that misogyny should be made a hate crime, adding that while “all men are not abusers”, “all men can help” stamp it out of society.
The peer’s comments drew some criticism with Susan Hall, the Conservative leader in the London Assembly, posting on Twitter: “OMG the world is going mad. The greens are thinking about a curfew for men after 6pm at night – I’ve heard it all now.”
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MP in Commons reads out names of women killed
And Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader, tweeted: “Just in case you thought I was exaggerating when I call the left deranged…
“This Green Party politician wants a curfew for men after 6pm at night. A better case for reform of the House of Lords has never been seen.”
Sarah Everard vanished while walking home to Brixton, south London, from a friend’s house in Clapham on 3 March.
Detectives searching for the 33-year-old have since discovered human remains in Ashford, Kent.
It follows the arrest of a Metropolitan Police officer on suspicion of kidnap and murder.