Thank You for Meeting Us on the Street!
Hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of people all over the world participated in International Anti-Street Harassment Week. Through these actions, our online campaigns and media coverage, our message of safe public spaces for all reached millions.
THANK YOU for being part of it and making it all possible!
- View photos from the actions that took place in more than 30 countries.
- Read the daily recaps of each day and guest blog posts from across the week.
- Check out the 65 media hits the week received.
A few highlights of the actions include:
- Argentina: The release of the first-ever street harassment study in Buenos Aires showing that 100% of women had faced street harassment.
- Afghanistan: 300 people wrote messages against street harassment.
- Australia: Member of Parliament Fiona Patten MLC gave a statement in Victoria, focused on LGBTI street harassment.
- Chile: A law amendment to criminalize street harassment was passed unanimously today in the Chilean Chamber of Deputies.
- France: Stop Harcelement de Rue groups in seven cities across the country held sidewalk chalking, discussions, and other actions.
- Latin America: Seven countries across Latin America launched the #NoEsMiCultura (#NotMyCulture)
- Nepal: Many events took place in Kathmandu, including a presentation of street harassment study findings at the National Women Commission including to the deputy Prime Minister, Shrijana Sharma, and held a massive march.
- Philippines: UN Women Safe Cities and the Quezon City local government worked with the Tricycle Drivers Association to train 100 tricycle drivers (tuktuk drivers) on gender sensitivity and to come up with joint solutions for addressing street harassment.
- UK: Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates spoke at an Abortion Rights event in Parliament on protecting women from harassment and abuse outside UK clinics.
- USA: Iowa City actions received among the most media coverage of any place in the world, raising significant public awareness about the issue in that community.
A few new countries joined the week for the first time, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea, and the Maldives.
There were five tweet chats, a global tweetathon, a Google+ Hangout, and a Vlog series by our board member Erin McKelle.
Meet Us on the Street Social Media Manager Lauren McEwen wanted to share this with you: “Thank you so much for all of your help and flexibility, for being there to answer my questions and for hosting such great, thought-provoking Twitter chats.”
5 Things to Do Next:
- If you haven’t already, please send us a few sentences about how your event went, how many people participated or were impacted, and any compelling quotes. Also please send us photos! (If you already wrote about your event, you can send us a link.) The information will be used in our wrap-up report celebrating all of the actions that took place!
- Plan to participate in Meet us on the Street 2017. The dates will be April 2-8, 2017 (moved earlier in the month so as to avoid the Easter holiday)
- Apply for the SSH Blog Correspondents Program, for the May to August cohort. Applications are due by April 30.
- Donate $11 or more to fund the first national USA street harassment hotline (in partnership with RAINN). $11 will cover 15 minutes of caller time!
- Be an early applicant for SSH’s Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program. Project proposals are due June 15, 2016 for projects that will take place between July 15 and November 30, 2016. Each selected team will receive $350 for the project as well as advice, connections and publicity. Extra consideration is given to groups and individuals who may not have other funding sources available to them. Past recipients may apply again.
