16 days Archives | Stop Street Harassment

16 Days – Day 1: Research on Girls’ Safety

November 25, 2018 By HKearl

From sexual harassment and violence in homes to the streets, from schools to workplaces, women’s and girls’ equality and right to be safe is impeded every day by gender-based violence. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as designated by the United Nations to recognize this human rights violation and to say ENOUGH. Everyone deserves a life that is safe and free from violence.

What will you do to speak out against men’s violence against women and girls, including street harassment?

Today also marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. It will conclude on 10 December, International Human Rights Day.

Each day across the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we will highlight a 2018 activism effort undertaken to stop street harassment or a personal story about stopping harassers!

Day #1: Research on Girls’ Safety

Plan International released a report, based on interviews with 21,000 girls in Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Sydney, that says street harassment is a pervasive problem for them. One researcher said, “The level of danger girls are facing in cities is shocking and we all have a role to play in ensuring everybody feels safe in our cities — whether they are on the street, on public transport or in parks. Individuals, communities, governments and authorities should all be spurred to act.”

Plan International Australia suggests that girls should be involved in planning cities to reduced gender-based exclusion and street harassment. They also recommend “behavior change programs that target toxic masculinity, tackle social norms and address the root causes of gender-based street harassment.”

“We have to have this conversation now. Good men, there are a lot of them, they’re a majority, they have to start speaking up and speaking out and they have to start calling out this behaviour because enough is enough. It shouldn’t be on girls to fix this problem,” said Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena.

In another report by Plan International, titled “Girls’ Safety in Cities across the World“, almost 400 experts in 22 cities across six continents discussed the safety risks that girls and young women face. It found that Lima is the world’s most dangerous city for girls to go out alone, while Stockholm is the safest city for sexual harassment and for girls to leave the house alone. “The poll is the first of its kind to highlight the universality of the dangers girls and young women face in cities and public spaces across different societies and cultures, which it says affects the lives of millions and yet remains ignored.”

Lastly, research conducted by Plan International UK found that one in three girls in the UK have been street harassed while wearing their school uniform and 66% have faced some kind of street harassment overall. They found that many girls feel street harassment is “all part of growing up.”

The organization has made several recommendations, including:

Public awareness campaigns to spread the message that street harassment “is not OK”
Offer training for bystanders on how to safely intervene
Support boys and men to change their attitudes and challenge harassment
Provide relationship and sex education to young people
Training for workers in public places (shop staff, bus drivers) on spotting harassment and reporting it

Int’l Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2016

November 25, 2016 By HKearl

Today, November 25, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, organized by the UN. The UNiTE campaign “strongly emphasizes the need for sustainable financing for efforts to end violence against women and girls towards the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Why?

“One of the major challenges to efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls worldwide is the substantial funding shortfall. As a result, resources for initiatives to prevent and end violence against women and girls are severely lacking.”

To that end, we encourage you to consider donations to these organizations that are working to address and end violence against women and girls:

Stop Street Harassment (of course) to help fund our National Street Harassment Hotline in 2017. You can also donate to support our 2017 Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program and an updating of the laws in our Know Your Rights Toolkit, which was produced in 2013.
Collective Action for Safe Spaces (Washington, D.C.)
Girls for Gender Equity (New York City)
A Long Walk Home (Chicago)
End Rape on Campus (national, USA)

*A Long Walk Home Girl/Friends in Chicago*

Today is also the first day of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign (being commemorated for its 25th year), coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership.The theme of the 16 Days Campaign is “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for All”. According to the 16 Days website,

“This theme recognizes that structural discrimination and inequality is perpetuated in a cycle of violence that does not end even when girls and young women are in the act of gaining an education. Gender-based violence with respect to the right to education is a consistent threat in public spaces, schools, and homes and is a detriment to the universal human right to education and it is our obligation to focus on the precarious situation of education for girls and boys, young women and men this year through the 16 Days Campaign.”

Many girls and women also face violence and harassment simply traveling TO and FROM school and college. This also must be addressed if we want to see girls be able to safely receive an education.

For more information on this specific problem, see the Safe Routes to School National Partnership’s report that includes information on street harassment.

Join the conversations online with #16Days and take a stand against violence against women.

Remember, donate if you can! Our work relies on the generous contributions of people like you.

#16Days of Activism: Working with Nightlife Venues (Day 10)

December 4, 2015 By HKearl

Nov. 25 – Dec. 10 are the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. To commemorate the week, we are featuring 1 activism idea per day. This information is excerpted from my new book Stop Global Street Harassment: Growing Activism Around the World (Praeger 2015).

Groping, grinding, and verbal harassment are common problems at nightlife venues across the world. Groups in both England and the United States have programs to address and combat this unfortunate reality.

Nightlife harassment stories make up a significant portion of the stories submitted to the Hollaback! London website. Co-Directors Bryony Beynon and Julia Gray wanted to do something about it and lucked out when in 2013, one of London’s biggest and most famous clubs, fabric, contacted them acknowledging that it had a harassment problem. Beynon and Gray worked with the club to create the first anti-harassment policy of its kind in the United Kingdom. “The results were amazing,” Beynon told me. Kristi Weir, the press officer at fabric, agreed, saying, “We’ve received some really positive messages from women thanking us for taking this stance and having their backs since we started publicising the campaign.”

After their success at fabric, Beynon and Gray created the Good Night Out Campaign and launched it as a London pilot on International Women’s Day in March 2014. Only a few months later, it spread across the United Kingdom and Ireland, and within a few more months, 95 licensed premises had signed on to the campaign. The women told me the establishments range from “superclubs to tiny pubs, university union bars, from theatres to pizza joints” and that more are signing up every week.

The women customize the program to meet each establishment’s needs and only move forward once everyone there is committed and will sign the pledge, which in part reads: “We want you to have a Good Night Out. If something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable, you can speak to any member of staff, and they will work with you to make sure it doesn’t have to ruin your night.” The premise must post this pledge very visibly around the venue. This is “so that customers really see them and are aware that they’re in an environment that doesn’t tolerate harassment.”

The staff members of each premise receive an hour-long training session about harassment and handling reports that includes what to say to avoid using victim-blaming language. They also can get other training tools like a hints and tips sheet for the back bar areas. The Good Night Out Campaign is expanding quickly. Through a new partnership with their local council in Southwark, the campaign will soon deliver the training to every venue in the area. Through another new partnership with the national alcohol awareness nonprofit organization Drinkaware, the campaign will “provide training and advice on a pilot project aimed at reducing harassment on nights out by placing hosts in licensed premises to provide help and support.”

Similar programs are underway in the United States in Washington, D.C., Arizona, Iowa City, and Boston. Washington, D.C.’s program Safe Bars is a collaboration between grassroots groups Defend Yourself and Collective Action for Safe Spaces. In Arizona, the program is run by a sexual violence prevention arm of the Arizona Department of Health and Human Services. The Rape Victims Advocacy Program and Women’s Resource and Action Center at the University of Iowa is working with bar staff at venues in downtown Iowa City. The Boston program is run through the Boston Rape Crisis Center in collaboration with law enforcement and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

The reach of each program has been much smaller than the Good Night Out Campaign, but feedback from venues that have used the training has been very positive, and staff members feel better able to address harassment in their establishments.

Help fund our work in 2016, donate to our end-of-year giving campaign!

16 Days: Day 16, Egypt

December 10, 2012 By HKearl

During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), Stop Street Harassment is featuring activists who took action against street harassment this year, one new country per day.

Egyptian women protest — Photo courtesy of Emad Karim.

Day #16: Egypt

From creating human chains and organizing rallies to protest street sexual violence, to organizing volunteers to speak to community members about the issue, to advocating for stronger anti-harassment laws, to creating volunteer anti-harassment patrols, activists in Egypt have been BUSY this year!

This summer, I traveled to Egypt and met with many of these activists, especially from HarassMap, and participated in some of their work. It was inspiring.

To better understand the issue and what activists there are fighting, watch this powerful (but possibly triggering) segment from Unreported World, released on Friday. To know that men are paid to sexually assault women who are participating in the political process by protesting is horrific, but I gain courage from their courage as they fight and speak out despite this grim truth.

16 Days: Day 6, South Africa

November 30, 2012 By HKearl

Day #6: South Africa

After two teenagers wearing miniskirts were harassed and groped by a group of 50-60 men at a taxi rank, around 3,000 South Africans marched through Johannesburg in protest. The ruling African National Congress Women’s League organized the march to emphasize “that women had the right wear whatever they wanted without fear of victimization.”

During the march, Women’s Minister Lulu Xingwana warned that she would close down the taxi rank if such harassment continued. She also said, “The scourge of women abuse threatens to erode many of the hard-earned gains of the liberation struggle. It denies women their birth rights. It condemns them to a life of fear and prevents them from being productive members of society.”