Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Egyptian Women Talk about Street Harassment

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Not long ago, an article came out talking about the high rate of sexual harassment in public in Egypt. As a follow up piece, the BBC interviewed several Egyptian women about their experiences.

For example, here is what Posy Abdou said:

“I get harassed 100 times a day. I tried everything to stop it but it doesn’t stop. I wear loose clothes, I don’t wear make up, I spend more than an hour in front of the mirror everyday thinking of ways to hide my body.

I walk home everyday. It only takes me 15 minutes, I cross the bridge. It is usually very loud and busy, but that does not stop men from approaching girls, any girl, good looking or bad looking, covered or not.

I remember so many scary harassments. There was this guy who followed me and suddenly grabbed my bottom in front of everyone. I screamed but he ran away and no one interfered.

Once I was shopping with my father and aunt, and this guy kept staring at me and blowing me kisses. My dad shouted at him and started hitting him. I think men are doing this because they are jobless and have no manners.”

I am glad that the BBC is showing how horrible street harassment is for women!! I think the best way to get people to pay attention to the problem is by hearing women’s stories.

So share yours!

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A Wish on Women’s Equality Day

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Today is Women’s Equality Day. In my past life I was a history major and I worked for a women’s history organization, which instill in me a fervent appreciation for the determined women and men whose activism made it possible for women to vote. I find this day an appropriate time to reflect on all the rights we’ve gained – hey I got to run on my school’s cross country team and take AP calculus and attend college and now I don’t have to marry my partner and I can work and have control over my reproductive abilities and have my own checking account and own property and vote – and think about the rights I hope we can have in the future.

My wish today is for equality to extend to the public sphere. Women should have as much right as a man to be in public without the fear of being harassed or assaulted. Yet, ask any woman and any man how safe they each feel in different public sphere scenarios and I think it will be clear that there is not equality. This can impact other areas of a woman’s life – like prevent her from going to night classes or taking a night shift or make her take a long route to work or keep her from enjoying exercising in the fresh air or make her dread just going to the corner grocery store for milk. How can women have equality if they can’t enjoy these basic rights?!

What are your women’s equality day wishes and/or what are you grateful for?

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A Wish on Women's Equality Day

By

Today is Women’s Equality Day. In my past life I was a history major and I worked for a women’s history organization, which instill in me a fervent appreciation for the determined women and men whose activism made it possible for women to vote. I find this day an appropriate time to reflect on all the rights we’ve gained – hey I got to run on my school’s cross country team and take AP calculus and attend college and now I don’t have to marry my partner and I can work and have control over my reproductive abilities and have my own checking account and own property and vote – and think about the rights I hope we can have in the future.

My wish today is for equality to extend to the public sphere. Women should have as much right as a man to be in public without the fear of being harassed or assaulted. Yet, ask any woman and any man how safe they each feel in different public sphere scenarios and I think it will be clear that there is not equality. This can impact other areas of a woman’s life – like prevent her from going to night classes or taking a night shift or make her take a long route to work or keep her from enjoying exercising in the fresh air or make her dread just going to the corner grocery store for milk. How can women have equality if they can’t enjoy these basic rights?!

What are your women’s equality day wishes and/or what are you grateful for?

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In India, New Opportunities for Women = Abuse from Men

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The Washington Post has an article by Emily Wax about how attitudes toward women in India aren’t necessarily keeping pace with the progression of rights of Indian women. Street harassment or eve teasing is an example they give – more women are in the streets as they go to work and school and men are harassing them. Tellingly, a women who is part of a theater groups that educates the public about issues like street harassment and sexual assault says she regularly gets harassed when she is going home from performances. Another example:

“Chaudhry is one of the brightest students in her working-class district. But since several local men started following her to class, she sometimes stays home now. She has friends who have been raped or are constant victims of “Eve teasing,” when men on the street spew lewd comments or aggressively paw women’s bodies.”

Pretty horrible, right?

In the US this has also happened. An example that comes to my mind is the sexual harassment women faced when they were allowed to be integrated into traditionally male (and high paying) jobs because men were not happy to have them there on equal terms.

Do you have other examples?

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NYC will roll out anti-sexual harassment subway campaign

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A few weeks ago, there was talk that the New York City MTA was deciding not to launch their planned anti-sexual harassment subway ad campaign for fear it would encourage more groping. Among the anti-street harassment community, there was an outcry and demand that the campaign continue.

Good news, it’s set to launch next month.

The first 2,000 posters will be distributed throughout the system and should remain up for at least three months to “assess its impact,” said NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges.

The campaign was sparked by a report last year by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer that found 10 percent of women surveyed claimed to have been sexually abused and 63 percent reported having been sexually harassed.

I have to say that I’m thrilled this issue is being taken seriously and I hope that it will deter subway harassers and encourage those being harassed to report it. I take pride too in the fact that I wrote to MTA asking that they run the campaign so maybe our voices got heard 🙂

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