News stories Archives | Page 114 of 161

Anti-Harassment Petition: Please Mend the Gap

June 7, 2011 By HKearl

Harassment on public transportation is rampant. In Delhi, India, it’s no different. To address the harassment, many governments around the world have instituted women-only subway cars and buses (usually only during rush hour and without offering them often enough or in enough volume for all women to use them). The Delhi metro system is one example. The segregation is not working, however, and the harassment is as bad as ever. The Please Mend the Gap campaign is trying to change that.

Via an online petition site the organizers write:

“We believe that a majority of women do not feel safe while travelling in the Delhi Metro. We have spoken to a cross-section of Metro commuters who have shared with us their experiences most of which include instances of verbal and physical harassment mostly faced by women, specifically in the women’s-only compartment.

In fact, a few days ago, some of the members of our group who were traveling at night observed that the women’s-only compartment was populated with men who had occupied almost all the seats forcing the women to stand, leaving them with no choice but to actively demand the seats they were entitled to. The men were unapologetic and dismissive. Most shrugged off the women’s protest by claiming falsely that the women’s-only compartment turns general post 9 p.m..

Women who choose to travel in the general compartment are also harassed. There have been many instances where men have told women that they are not welcome in this compartment and should use the compartment reserved for them. This attitude has become so deeply entrenched in commuters’ mindsets that most accidentally refer to the general compartment as the ‘men’s compartment’. There have been times when authorities have driven out men from the women’s-only compartments, but without having imposed any fine whatsoever.”

Already, Please Mend the Gap activists spearheaded a flash mob on the metro to raise awareness about the issue. On June 1, they launched a petition with 10 demands for the transportation authorities to fulfill in order to make the system safer, and harassment free. The petition reads:

We the commuters on the Delhi Metro have the following suggestions to make to ensure a safer, friendlier and more respectable environment for women within the Metro premises.

1. Ensure regular announcement inside the Metro train and within the Metro stations stating categorically that, “Any person involved in, assisting in, or indulging in any activity that outrages a woman’s modesty, including but not limited to molesting and eve-teasing, will be punished with imprisonment and/or fine. The announcement should clearly state the Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code under which sexual harassment is a punishable crime.

2. Announcements like, “Men entering the women’s compartment will be fined Rs. 250,” should be made at regular intervals on the public announcement systems. Spot fines should be collected by DMRC Staff posted at the Metro Stations from men caught travelling in the women’s compartment.

3. Adequate training should be given to DMRC staff and CISF personnel stationed at platforms in handling of such cases with specific focus to sensitize the DMRC staff to handle victims with greater care and concern.

4. Every Metro Station should have at least one lady officer who is specially trained and equipped to handle such cases including registration of such offences, counseling the victim and the like.

5. The current system where one has to go to Kashmere Gate to file a FIR for cases related to the metro needs to be decentralized urgently. Every metro station should have a complaint cell conveniently and prominently located within the premises of the metro station and should be able to handle/register cases for the entire duration for which the metro runs daily, i.e. between 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. A system should also be evolved whereby the metro helpdesk/officials assist the victim in registering any case successfully.

6. Information Boards should be installed at every Metro station at strategic locations, such as near the ticketing counter, with detailed directions for lodging a complaint against an instance of harassment as well as emergency contact numbers of Delhi Metro officials, laws against molestation and other necessary information.

7. CCTVs must be installed inside the Metro compartments and information on how to procure CCTV footage, if and when required, should be made available to commuters at the earliest.

8. A section of the advertisement space available inside the Metro should be compulsorily reserved for displaying information relating to the legal assistance available to victims of molestation and harassment and remedies for the same.

9. The DMRC ought to provide details of helpline numbers and contact numbers/email addresses of important Metro authorities in the Metro Map Brochure and also inside the Metro train so that commuters are aware of the same and can contact the required persons in times of emergency. It has been brought to our notice by various commuters that some of the numbers are not functional. It is the prerogative of the authorities to ensure the helpline numbers are functional and are consistently monitored for efficiency and efficacy.

10. The DMRC ought to monitor, review and increase security arrangements and make authorities more accountable for lapses in security. It is our earnest request that our above demands be heard and implemented by the concerned authorities at the earliest. This will go a long way in ensuring that women feel safe commuting by the Delhi Metro and in fulfilling the DMRC’s mission of providing world-class service to the citizens of Delhi. This petition is drafted and supported by ‘PLEASE MEND THE GAP’, a citizen- led initiative to promote gender equality and commuter safety in public spaces.

Sign the petition and join their Facebook page for more updates on their campaign.

Street Harassment Snapshot: June 6, 2011

June 6, 2011 By HKearl

Read stories, news articles, blog posts, and tweets about street harassment from the past week and find relevant announcements and upcoming street harassment events.

Street Harassment Stories:

I accept street harassment submissions from anywhere in the world. Share your story! You can read new street harassment stories on the Web from the past week at:

Stop Street Harassment Blog

Hollaback Columbia, MO

Street Harassment in the News, on the Blogs:

Ruth’s Corner, “I’m wearing shorts. Get over it.“

INews880AM, “Slut Walk takes place in Edmonton“

MidDay, “Eve teasers drive girl to consume poison“

BBC News, “‘SlutWalk’ march in Cardiff but what is the message?“

Guardian, “Bidisha’s thought for the day: Charity muggers“

Washington Post, “SlutWalks and the future of feminism“

Women, Women Everywhere, “Street Harassment“

Bitch Media, “Takin’ it to the Streets: The Perfect Victim (Part I)“

Love Matters, “‘No groping’ on Bogota’s buses“

Mustbol, “I flashed a mob and I liked it“

Minneapolitan Mademoiselle, “On Street Harassment“

Love Stutter, “The Window Sex Project“

Mazzie, “To the girl who called me a fatass on the bus“

Announcements:

New:

Watch the new anti-street harassment film out of Nottingham, UK.

On-going:

* Help fund the Hey, Shorty! on the road book tour to end gender-based violence in schools and on the streets.

* Needed: your feedback on international anti-street harassment day 2011 & your ideas for 2012 http://tinyurl.com/44f7bef

* Fight Street Harassment with Your Spare Change http://t.co/TKeve2e via @swipegood

* If you live in Atlanta, Georgia, take a MARTA survey so Hollaback Atlanta can better tackle harassment on public transportation

* College students, enter the Hollaback essay contest, entries due August 1.

* Are you in Egypt? Use HarassMap to report your street harassers

* Have an iPhone? Download the Hollaback iPhone app that lets you report street harassers

20 Tweets from the Week:

1. mariellagross Street harassment aint no joke

2. kdflygirl No street harassment 2day, bcuz I’m out with male friends. What a difference, loving my city right about now..

3. jennimiller76 it’s summer, which means #streetharassment

4. kaitmacmurray I was sexually harrassed on the street this morning by employees of Alpine Roofing in their company vehicle.RT if you are against harassment

5. HollabackOttawa Here is our obligatory HOLY F*CK IT’S HOT OUTSIDE post. And our obligatory WHY MUST #STREETHARASSMENT BE THE REAL SIGN OF SUMMER post. Ugh.

6. ChantigaloBEroc I need a service animal in the form of a bullmastiff. I think that would drastically reduce my stress and street harassment encounters.

7. RCTuri: I HATE street harassment. And some men have the AUDACITY to approach me when I have my children.

8. dcGirl_202 Street harassment so bad today I had two separate occurrences of dudes actually following me home. One on a bike, one in a minivan. FML.

9. jennpozner Tip: Saying God BLESS you! in a lewd tone doesn’t make your #streetharassment any less obnoxious. Nor more, what, spiritual?

10. FeistyFeminist1 Great. #streetharassment on Georgia Ave. My least favorite way to start a Friday night.

11. nermine_lawyer We should solve the problem of sexual harassment in the streets! I think old cloodbey street was a good solution in 1944! Let’s find one now

12. purplepeace79 Street harassment destroys women’s spirits, their self-esteem, & contributes to why so many women are distrustful of men

13. reagansleepy Yes, I appreciate your sexual harassment, 38 year old fat guy across the street. I totally wanna get in your pants.

14. NvrComfortable Men who see and want to end the harm street harassment does to women should talk to other men. That’s one of the only ways it’ll change.

15. HollabackEP #aintnothingsexyabout yelling “HEY! SEXY!” to women walking by. #aintnothingsexyabout street harassment, period.

16. shotlowr Going 2 #slutwalk la today was wonderful, it almost helped mitigate the #streetharassment I experienced outside my apartment when I got home

17. TheNotoriousYEG Just got sexually harassed on the bus by some fucking creep wearing a northlands security shirt. #streetharassment strong urge to punch…

18. HOLLAs are coming to Brasil, Wellington, and West Yorkshire on 8/10! Follow them now: @HollabackBrasil @hollabackWY @HollabackWgtn

19. thetrudz @sammieolivia @NvrComfortable Agreed. It is rarely safe to be friendly in public as it only heightens street harassment versus deterring it.

20. TheBlueStone It’s not just harassment & z disgusting words they impose on our ears 4no reason than just we happen to be women on the street #egymen #WTF

I flashed a mob and I liked it

June 2, 2011 By Contributor

Cross-posted from Mostbol in India:

No no no… no one was flashing anyone at the First Delhi Flash Mob in solidarity with the ‘Please Mend The Gap’ initiative. It was more about standing up for what I believe in. Standing up for safe spaces in Delhi Metro for women.

And it was a lesson in how to be an activist and have loads of fun being one! Replace the candles with bright T-shirts and just assemble at a crowded spot!

The ‘Please Mend The Gap’ initiative organized a flash mob in an attempt to make the Delhi Metro a more equal space. The desire is to create awareness – that women and men can share space, and that it is not permissible to violate another person’s sense of self. The flash mob carried this message in a non-violent manner, through affirmative messages.

We boarded the Metro from the Saket Station, and after a few stops stripped our outer layer of clothing to reveal our slogans on bright yellow Tees that we all wore underneath). After about ten stations, we got out of the trains and stood on two of the busiest stations (Rajiv chowk/Kashmiri Gate) and yes we got noticed. Onlookers chattered amongst themselves, a few questioned us and at least one clicked my photo too!

We were a yellow human chain walking towards the Promise land of the Wonderful Wizard of Delhi Metro, seeking safe public transport for all!

– Kuber Sharma

“No groping” on buses in Colombia

May 31, 2011 By HKearl

Via Love Matters in the Netherlands:

“We don’t need that kind of support,” runs the slogan on a poster showing a man thrusting himself up against a woman.

“We don’t want that hand,” reads another ‘no groping’ poster. They’re part of a campaign against sexual harassment on the buses of Colombia’s capital Bogota, set up by a group of women who’ve had enough of wandering hands and offensive sexual comments.

“During rush hour, when the buses are packed, the male passengers take the opportunity to stand close to women and feel them up,” says Marisol Dalmazo of the Latin American Women and Habitat Network in Colombia. “It’s offensive and restrictive to women.”

Marisol has been running a programme since 2007 in Bogota to promote neighbourhood women’s centres and make the streets safer for women and girls. And she’s the driving force behind a campaign to put a stop to one of the harmful side-effects of Latin America’s macho culture: street sexual harassment.

“It’s something that’s always happened and not only in Latin America,” she stresses. “It’s now important that we draw attention to the issue and make men aware that what they’re doing is sexual harassment and mustn’t be tolerated under any circumstances.”

“We put up posters at every bus station and bus stop,” she says. “The bus company employees help us – they even wear t-shirts with slogans against sexual harassment.”

Marisol and her organisation also act out role plays about sexual harassment on the bus. Women dressed as men perform scenes about groping, and then ask passengers what they think about the behaviour.

“We generally get positive responses,” she says. “More and more, people think sexual harassment should be condemned, that this kind of behaviour mustn’t be tolerated.”

I love how Marisol and other women took the issue of groping on the buses and street harassment into their own hands and even have bus employee cooperation in their efforts to prevent it. Their initiatives should be inspirational to people everywhere who are fed up and have had enough of sexual harassment on the streets, in the parks, on the buses and subways.

Find ideas for what YOU can do at an individual and/or a community level. Every action makes a difference.

Street harassment at Tahrir Square during May 27 protest

May 29, 2011 By HKearl

Stop Street Harassment ally Ahmed Awadalla has an important post at his blog Rebel with a Cause about the street harassment of a famous Egyptian actress during the May 27 protest in Tahrir Square.

“Yesterday was an important day for the revolution. Protesters took Tahrir square again to assert revolution’s demands. Islamists groups decided not to participate yesterday so it was a test for liberal and secular groups to organize in the streets. It was considered a success given the thousands that showed up, but it was marred by a horrible incident of sexual harassment of the famous diva Sherihan.

Sherihan was an actress and performer loved by Egyptians particularly during the 80s and 90s. She suffered a severe car accident in mid-90s and it was rumored that it was a chapter of love and power saga that involved Alaa the elder son of Mubarak. She magically recovered and came back to the stage, only to suffer cancer a few years later and move away from the artistic scene. Sherihan was one of the few artists who participated in the revolution unlike many artists who withdrew from making a political stance.

My mother told me that this sad video was screened on TV that shows the horrible incident. The setting around her doesn’t look like Tahrir, some reported that this happened as she was leaving Tahrir yesterday.

What really angers me is the lack of attention such incident got and some of the horrible comments of victim-blame that I always hear when sexual harassment is brought up. Some wonder why she went out of her home! It makes me wonder how deep the denialism about gender inequality is in our country. Even activists refrain from mentioning the incident. Is it because they didn’t know? Or is it an attempt to maintain the silver-lining of the revolution? Is not really important to talk about now? Or is it deep-hidden patriarchy?

But the answer won’t be simple and many factors come at play here. What if this happened to one of the famous activists of the revolution? Does the revolution have an authoritarian system that controls who is important and who’s not? What if the victim of mass harassment was an unknown person? Would it get reported at all?

When Lara Logan was sexually assaulted in Tahrir right after Mubarak was toppled, Western media was all over covering her story. Western coverage was very uneven as well with some victim blaming and Islam bashing too. But Egyptian media failed to report on it. Is it because we deny sexual harassment? Is it because she’s a foreigner? Or we were simply overjoyed by Mubarak’s departure?

In gender battles, other factors interfere such as race, age, class, and power. I think we really need to think about these questions and recognize our prejudices. This is how we push the revolution forward.”

« Previous Page