Archives for June 2011

New women-only buses in Guatemala

June 25, 2011 By HKearl

Guatemala, one of the most violent countries in the world, just launched a pilot program of dozens of women-only buses in Guatemala City because of the high rates of sexual harassment and groping that women passengers face.

The buses are identified with signs reading “For Women Only” and pink ribbons (ah yes, as always, pink = female…) and the buses run between the city center and neighbourhoods to the north and south. The buses run from 6 to 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m., and they allow boys under 12 to ride. Bus drivers are also allowed to be male.

Guatemala joins more than fifteen countries that have women-only public transportation, each instituted as band-aid fixes to address rampant sexual harassment on public transportation and never offered with enough frequency to be of use to all women passengers. The idea for the women-only buses in Guatemala came from seeing Mexico institute them a few years ago.

“Spearheading the initiative was right-wing opposition congresswoman Zury Ríos, who asked the owners of buses to create women-only spaces, to keep them safe from harassment and aggression.

“It’s been a success. I’m really happy that women feel safer and that with this decision, their human rights have begun to be respected,” said the legislator, who is the daughter of former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983).

Congresswoman Ríos, who is known for taking up women’s causes, said the Guatemala City system is based on the Mexico City model. She added that the idea is to also provide a women-only taxi service, with women drivers, similar to a system that is operating in the Mexican capital.”

Americas Quarterly reported on how the first day of the initiative went:

“The first day of service was met with a mix of enthusiasm and confusion. Hundreds of women lined up to board the pink-ribboned buses, but some were made visibly nervous by male riders in nearby lines who appeared to mock the new routine. The system also created difficulties for riders unaccustomed to traveling without their husbands or older sons. Some men, who mistakenly boarded the new buses, were ordered off.”

Like other countries with women-only public transportation, feelings about the women-only buses vary. Some women are simply grateful for any measure that gives them relief from the harassment, while others see it as a surface-level response that doesn’t address or fix the root causes. For my part, I always wonder how people can justify segregating individuals by sex in these instances when it would be unthinkable to do so by race, eye color, or nationality. It may be harder to do, but why not actually address the root causes or focus the attention on men instead of on women?

Here is some of the mixed feedback, via International.to:

“I feel safer here,” Verónica Ortega, holding her two-year-old son, told IPS as she rode home on one of the women-only buses.

“The problem is that off the bus, harassment is still an issue,” Ana María Cofiño, with the La Cuerda feminist collective, told IPS, describing the buses as a “palliative” measure.

“Specific actions like this are taken, but violence in other areas like the workplace or the streets, or the fact that women are at risk of being raped at any time, are not addressed,” she complained.

Cofiño said the Guatemalan state has the obligation to guarantee that women have the same access to opportunities as men, and to carry out awareness-raising campaigns on respect for women. “If the authorities did this, we would believe there was a more serious intention of bringing about change,” she added.

Ana Silvia Monzón at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) told IPS that the initiative makes sense as long as women continue to be harassed on public transport.

“I hope it’s only temporary and that men’s behaviour will improve, but for that to happen, other measures are needed as well,” the expert added…

Evelyn Morales, with Tierra Viva, a women’s group based in Guatemala City, told IPS that it will take a major effort to curb harassment and violence against women. But the women-only buses “are a positive step, because most women experience being groped, harassed and sexually violated on urban and suburban buses,” she said.

But not everyone is happy about the measure. “There aren’t enough buses, and now half-empty buses carrying only women will go by,” complained Víctor Guzmán, a factory employee.”

Thoughts?

“That’s the third time he’s driven by and done that.”

June 24, 2011 By HKearl

I’m in Tampa, Florida, for the national NOW conference. This evening, I went for a five mile run near the USF campus. Within the first two miles, I was harassed twice by men going by in their cars.

I also witnessed a man in a car harass a young woman at a bus stop located on the edge of campus. As I approached her, I paused and asked her if he had just harassed her (based on her upset expression, I gathered that he had) and she said, “Yeah, I think so. That’s the third time he’s driven by and done that.”

I offered her a few words of comfort and said if he came by again, she could always tell him to stop harassing her. But she didn’t look too sure about that idea. Probably in part because besides the two of us there were no pedestrians as far as you could see in either direction, just cars, so she may not have felt safe responding. I understand that. I also should have mentioned to her that she could write down his license plate number and try reporting him, but I forgot to in the spur-of-the-moment-ness of the encounter.

A minute after I left her, a bus passed me and when I turned around, I saw it pull over and pick her up, so at least that man couldn’t harass her for a fourth time.

Despite all that I know about responding to street harassers, I tend to be the person who freezes when it happens, including when I see it happen to someone else, so I’m happy that didn’t freeze and I stopped when I saw it happen. Even though I didn’t have a chance to intervene or prevent the harassment, I hope I helped the young woman feel less alone and less upset by talking with her. And honestly, since I faced two of my own harassers, it also made me feel less alone to talk with her. (Very sad, that two out of the two women on the street got harassed, huh?)

If you see someone whose been harassed, even if you can’t do anything to stop or prevent it, consider asking if they are okay and that may make a difference and help them feel less alone.

To help you be a good bystander, here are bystander tips and success stories. And also, consider donating to the Hollaback I’ve Got Your Back bystander campaign.

– Holly

Location: North 50th Street, by USF, Tampa, Florida

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem.
Find suggestions for what YOU can do about this human rights issue.

“My daughter will know that she is not alone”

June 24, 2011 By Contributor

Harassment happens all of the time here. Victims of assault are slandered, harassed and called whores.

I have a daughter who will need protection from these apes one day. Not sure where to begin, but it is a great comfort to know that you are out there. My daughter will know that she is not alone. That’s light years ahead of my generation.

Keep up the important work. You are changing things for the better!

– Anonymous

Location: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

My house is not for sale

June 23, 2011 By Contributor

To all the men who say street harassment is no big deal: Imagine the following situation. You have recently bought the house of your dreams and have spent the last several months fixing it up, painting it, decorated it, and planting a garden in the yard. It’s an ordinary Saturday morning, and you are sitting in the kitchen in a T-shirt and boxers, drinking a cup of coffee, reading the paper, perhaps watching TV, and generally relaxing and enjoying the time you have to yourself. Suddenly, there’s a knock on the front door. You open the door and see a complete stranger standing on your front porch.

“Hey, mister, I just wanted to let you know that you have a beautiful house,” he says.

How do you respond? You may feel flattered, and at the same time you also may be annoyed and bewildered that a complete stranger interrupted you in the privacy of your home when you weren’t exactly looking for compliments. Then, he says something even more perplexing, “I’d like to buy your house!”

You say, “I’m sorry, sir, my house is not for sale,” and close the door. How would you feel in that situation? Angry? Disturbed? Perplexed? Most likely, you’d find it totally bizarre that someone offered to buy your house when you didn’t have a FOR SALE sign on the lawn.

Now imagine that over the next few days/weeks/months, several more different strangers knock on your front door. Sometimes it’s during dinner, sometimes it’s when you have friends or family visiting, sometimes it’s when you’re on the phone, sometimes when you’re watching TV, sometimes when you’re doing housework. When you tell them that your house isn’t for sale, they often respond in a variety of ways. Some of them will say, “What’s the matter, your house isn’t good enough for me?”

Others will get angry and call you an asshole as they storm off. Then there are the ones who say, “But if you don’t want to sell your house, can I at least rent a room for the night here?” The creepiest of all are the ones who won’t take no for an answer and continue to press you into selling your house, “But you’ve got a fine piece of real estate! I can make a great offer for you!” More than once, you’ve threatened to call the police if they won’t leave. In one case, the person turned violent and broke your window.

Then there are the ones who aren’t looking to buy your house, but simply knock on your door to tell you how beautiful your house is. While their intentions may be good, they are every bit as annoying and unwanted as the ones who want to buy your house. And you face these people with just as much apprehension, as you never know if they will become violent at well.

When you tell your friends about this problem, some of them react by discounting your fear, apprehension, and annoyance, and telling you how they think you ought to feel. “But they’re giving you a compliment!” they say. “You should be flattered!” “I wish someone would knock on my door and tell me how beautiful my house was.” “Someday when you get old and have to move into a retirement community, you’ll miss people knocking on your door and asking if your house is for sale. Enjoy it while you can!”

And then there was that one friend of yours who said the most bizarre thing ever, “Why not just talk to them? Even if you’re not interested in selling your house, you never know, you just might end up becoming friends with them. And then maybe one day if you decide to sell your house, you’ll automatically have a buyer!”

Some of your other friends even blame it on you, saying, “Well, if your house isn’t for sale, then why the heck did you put so much time and energy into making it look so beautiful?” They fail to understand that you may have your own reasons for making your house look attractive: you enjoy living in a beautiful house; you want people to stop and admire it but not knock on your door or offer to buy it; you want it to look good for your own sake and not the sake of others; you find house and yard decorating to be a sign of self-expression; or you simply just enjoy renovating, painting, and decorating houses and planting gardens.

Some of your other friends are more sympathetic, saying things like, “Yeah, that’s got to be annoying, but unfortunately there’s nothing you can do about it except to politely say your house isn’t for sale and close the door. And call the police if they ever turn violent.”

Yet you seem to feel that the “that’s just the way it is” attitude isn’t enough. People simply SHOULDN’T be knocking on your door or offering to buy a house without a FOR SALE sign on the lawn.

Now, I imagine some of you are saying, “But that’s not the same at all. I would never approach a woman or a girl in the privacy of her own house- only in public.” Just consider this- women have the right to feel just as safe on the sidewalks, buses, and stores of their communities as you do in the privacy of your own house.

“Okay, I understand that women have a need for privacy,” you say, “but then how am I ever supposed to find a date or a girlfriend if I don’t approach women? Women don’t put FOR SALE signs on themselves, so how am I supposed to know if they’re available?”

Here’s the solution: go to singles bars, clubs, parties, concerts, Match.com and other dating sites, and other events and locations specifically designed to meet dates. The women there are available and looking and have put themselves “on the market,” so to speak. If we’re going to continue to use the analogy of the house, going to events and places catered for singles is the equivalent of putting a FOR SALE sign on your lawn.

I’m sure there’s a few of you out there saying, “But I know someone who met their spouse at a coffee shop, walking down the street, or standing in line at the bank.” I’m not saying it never happens, or that there aren’t women in public places who are available and looking. However, keep in mind that if you approach women in such locations, there’s a risk that they will reject you simply because they aren’t looking. Rejection can range from a polite, “Sorry, I’m not interested,” to a more forceful, “F— off, you PIG!”

If you don’t think you can handle this kind of rejection, then simply react to a beautiful woman you see on the street in the same way you’d react to a beautiful house that isn’t for sale- admire the view, keep the thoughts in your head, and move on.

– Anonymous

New UN initiative focuses on creating safe cities

June 22, 2011 By HKearl

Last fall in Delhi, India, I attended the launch of UNIFEM’s Safe Cities Programme, a five-year program aimed at addressing safety issues particularly faced by women in five major cities. It appears that program, under the new UN Women, has now melded with similar programs run by UNICEF and UN-HABITAT into a program called Safe and Friendly Cities for All. [Update: I just heard from someone at the UN and the two programs are separate, though related]

The following information about it is from the UN Women website. It sounds like the initiatives will take street harassment into serious consideration, which is great. Afterall, we can have all the street lamps and graffiti-less walls we want, but until (primarily) men stop sexually harassing women in the streets, cities will never be safe for half of the population.

UNICEF, UN-HABITAT and UN Women launch “Safe and Friendly Cities for All,” a five-year programme that aims at making women and children feel safer in their local neighbourhoods, while improving their quality of life.

This partnership initiative builds on prior experience that all three organizations have accumulated on preventing gender-based violence, using innovative tools for child and youth engagement in urban settings, and promoting integrated crime prevention strategies in cities.

By working with local municipalities, women’s groups, child and youth advocates, the joint initiative will focus on increasing safety among women, youth and children, and preventing and reducing violence, including sexual harassment and violence against women and girls in public spaces.

More than half of the world’s population — approximately 3.4 billion people — live in cities today. This number is projected to increase to 69 percent by 2050. With this rapid urbanization come increased risks for the citizens of urban areas, especially women and children. Currently, one billion people are living in urban slums and are denied basic human rights, such as access to safe housing and reliable health services.

Global crime rates jumped by about 30 percent between 1980 and 2000, and between 2002 and 2007, approximately 60 percent of urban residents in developing countries reported that they had been the victims of crime. Many of these are women and young girls, facing sexual assault or harassment on streets, public transport or in their own neighbourhoods.

The new partnership will address these challenges by supporting a variety of initiatives in the participating cities. By working with local authorities and organizations on the ground, women and young people will be able to identify those areas in their neighbourhood where they feel most at risk, and find solutions together.

Potential interventions may include:

* Enabling women and young people to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives such as decisions on budgets and local infrastructure

* Establishing female councillor-led committees for effective response to sexual violence and crimes in communities

* Increasing street lights in high-risk areas, including the use of solar lights which are cost-effective and more resilient to damage and vandalism

* Training of community police units to prevent gender-based violence

The five-year initiative will be piloted with municipal leaders. Dushanbe, Greater Beirut, Metro Manila, Marrakesh, Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, San José and Tegucigalpa are among the cities currently being considered.