We The People Foundation interviewed 1,000 women in Mumbai, India, about their experiences with street harassment. Eighty percent had experienced some form of street harassment on a regular basis. Mumbai is supposed to be one of the safer cities for women in India and perhaps that’s why the statistic was “only” 80 percent, while in Delhi, over 90 percent of women feel unsafe leaving home alone.
The majority of the harassment takes place on crowded trains and railway platforms, and 60 percent had faced harassment while commuting by train and 40 percent while commuting by another public transportation system, like a bus or taxi.
“The statistics are worrying especially as women do not take concrete steps to stem the menace,” said Jason Temasfieldt, founder-member of the organisation, which addresses the issue of women’s safety in public places in Mumbai.
Only one out of 10 women lodges a police complaint, and not more than two confront the perpetrator or attempt to stop him.
“Only two out of every 10 women glare angrily at the offender. The rest just ignore him or worse, feel embarrassed or ashamed of themselves,” said Sacha Lobo, a college students who joined the organisation after being interviewed during the survey.
Another worrying finding was that most women do not consider catcalls or lewd comments as sexual harassment, but an “unfortunate drawback” of being a woman.
“Any unwanted physical or verbal action by a man is nothing but harassment. And it is high time both men and women did their bit to stop this menace,” said Temasfieldt.
