Amid shocking acts of violence against women in Australia, a woman from Adelaide has appealed for the public to do better to ensure women's safety after an encounter while walking alone left her "absolutely terrified". Photo / Getty Images
Amid shocking acts of violence against women in Australia, a woman from Adelaide has appealed for the public to do better to ensure women's safety after an encounter while walking alone left her "absolutely terrified". Photo / Getty Images
A South Australian woman has made an emotional appeal to the public to do more to ensure women’s safety in Australia after she was left “absolutely terrified” from being harassed by a man on a popular walking track in her local area.
Mikayla Gradara, 26, was on the Linear Park trail in Athelstone, Adelaide, on April 17 as part of her “usual morning walk” when a man who was acting “aggressively” came up to her.
Gradara said that she first saw the man in front of her “sticking the middle finger” into an older woman’s face before he started to approach her, The Advertiser reported.
“He began walking towards me but, unless I turned around, there was only one way to go,” Gradara recalled.
“I tried not to make eye contact and just kept walking, but he started blocking the trail so I couldn’t walk around him.
“He then started bouncing on his feet as though he was in a boxing ring before he came up right into my face... I said to him: ‘Can you please stop?’ But then he jolted at me in a really intimidating way.”
Gradara, feeling “absolutely terrified”, began to dial Australia’s emergency 000 number as she raised the tone of her voice at the man confronting her. This alerted a nearby group of walkers to the situation.
“I thought: ‘Okay, well, if he pulls out a weapon then I probably won’t be able to defend myself’,” she said.
The man only chose to back off and flee the scene once Gradara tried to film him and onlookers began to intervene in the situation.
Although Gradara was grateful to have people around who were able to look out for her, she told The Advertiser: “I feel like I’ve been watching my back ever since - even the slightest noise has me constantly turning around”.
Gradara posted about the incident on social media to bring attention to the overlooked discussion around women’s safety and was left moved by those close to her who shared personal stories of similar encounters.
Although some criticised Gradara for walking on her own, she corrected them by stating that women “should be able to feel safe stepping out anywhere” in public.
“I am grateful people were around, however, the point is that this s*** shouldn’t be happening and there needs to be a stop to it,” Gradara wrote on Instagram.
“People should be able to freely exercise, go out, socialise, etc without having to worry about their safety.”
Gradara’s experience is reflective of a broader trend in Australia and other parts of the world where concerns around women’s safety have grown amid rising violence against women.
In Australia alone, nine women have been killed by a male assailant in the past 18 days.
The attack has raised pressure on the Australian Government and public authorities to do more about tackling “our nation’s great shame” in a way that reflects the severity of the problem.
Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said on Friday that the country is in a “crisis of male violence” and that men need to “step up” efforts to stop the brutality.
“To create lasting change, women cannot be expected to solve violence against women alone. It’s time for men to stand up,” Dreyfus said at a Family Violence Symposium held in Melbourne.
Three women place flowers as a tribute near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney on April 14, 2024, after five women and one man were stabbed to death at a Westfield shopping centre. Photo / AP
“It’s our responsibility to educate ourselves, our sons, our colleagues and our friends. We must focus on prevention, working together and finding new ways of doing things.”
Dreyfus’ words reflect a similar stance taken by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the days following the Bondi stabbing.
“Men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of this violence and men as a group have to change their behaviour,” Albanese said on Tuesday, April 16.
“We have to be prepared to speak about these issues. We have to be prepared to talk to our friends and people we know. We have to be prepared to call out behaviour that we see when it’s unacceptable.”
