It’s a depressingly familiar situation now. Mariam Abdulrab was walking into her home after a late-night bar shift when a man kidnapped her at gunpoint. By 10 a.m. the following day, witnesses found her body in the Lakewood Heights neighborhood.
“Mariam brought light to every single person she came in contact with and will forever be missed. We will be closed this weekend to grieve and savor our last moments with her,” says Revery VR Bar, the bar Abdulrab worked at via Instagram. However, Abdulrab’s death has become part of a more significant trend.
The death of three women within the last month has hit Atlanta hard. It’s almost numbing when you see another Atlanta murder, as homicide and crime rates continue to rise. However, when unassuming women are gunned down, fear feels more warranted than usual.
Similar to the woman killed in Piedmont Park, 40-year-old Katie Janness, Abdulrab was a bartender. While these and the third murder at Yellow River Park are not connected, it is hard to gloss over the uniting factor of these women. They all worked in service jobs.
These deaths shine a spotlight on what risks young people unknowingly take on when they work strange hours. Younger millennials predominantly work in the service industry.
Typically, a restaurant or bar closes between ten or later. These late hours put these workers on the streets of Atlanta late at night.
Katie Janness was walking her dog at one in the morning, which might have been the only time she had time or energy to do so. People should not blame the victims themselves for their deaths, but they shine a light on a more significant issue. These deaths highlight how the current hours of service jobs put many people, especially women, at risk.
1 in 3 women experiences physical, sexual or emotional violence in their lifetime. It is hard to quantify when you talk to women, but every one of them lives with the constant fear of harassment or abuse, especially at work.
“Women’s everyday working lives are characterized by anxiety, depression, panic attacks, sleep disorders, attention deficit, and memory problems, and feeling vulnerable,” says Public Services International.
While many recognize the growing epidemic of crime against women in the service industry combined with young people relying on service industry jobs, what is the solution? I don’t know if there is one.
With the labor shortage caused by COVID-19, people already in the service industry are working longer, weirder hours because no one else will. These late hours make women in the service industry especially vulnerable to crime.
This infinite loop of overworking and underpaying comes at the cost of vulnerable women.
My only hope is that employers can recognize the issue and pay us what we are due. Furthermore, it is crucial to bring awareness to women’s safety, especially in the workplace.
The responsibility is not on us to find new jobs. It is on employers and the community who need to support women.
The burden is not on us to feel safe at night. It is on the men who prey on women. It is on the employers who refuse to let women walk home early. It is on the everlasting sexism and patriarchy.
We need to tear it down.
