Women's night dog walk group campaigns against violence

A dog trainer has set up a women's dog walking group in the aftermath of the death of Sarah Everard, to raise awareness of violence against women.

Daniele Moulton started the Women's Pack Walk to help women feel safe at night walking alone or with their dogs.

She said she wanted the Cheddar and Weston-super-Mare events to become a way for women to "reclaim the streets".

Ms Moulton said: "I'm hoping this will open conversations on this issue that we don't talk about enough."

She said she used to run a bar in Clapham Common and had to do the same walk home that Sarah Everard did "hundreds of times".

"You know it's not safe at night, but at the same time you still have the right to walk the street, to reclaim the streets" she said.

After talking to women in the area after the Sarah Everard case, Ms Moutlon found out a lot of mother's do not let their daughters out late at night.

She added: "We need to open conversations on violence against women and introduce women from different communities to each other, so they can choose to walk with someone that they feel safe with at night."

According to The World Health Organization, one in three women globally, around 736 million, have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes.

North Somerset dog walker Sophie Bryant said walking with a group of women will give her "a sense of security".

"We all should feel that we can go out at night, but we don't feel that we can," she said.

"With the group comes power."

She said she normally goes dog walking on footpaths in fields near her home, but "wouldn't dream of doing it at night".

"It will be great to see women walking together in the dark in the future in other settings like cities, giving each other confidence to do so in smaller groups and on there own," she added.

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