Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Women-only buses launch in Malaysia

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In May, Malaysia launched women-only carriages on its trains and yesterday they launched women-only buses on seven routes in the Malaysian capital during peak hours. More than 60 percent of the country is Muslim and the women-only buses and carriages can help women feel more comfortable navigating the city, especially in the face of sexual harassment.

It can also help them get seats. Via an AFP article, Poovan Kaur, 63, said, “I will feel safer [on women-only buses], not because I do not trust men, but for someone my age, it’s hard to fight for space during peak hours.” [What a bunch of jerks to not give elderly people seats on the bus!]

While I appreciate that in the short-term women-only public transportation is a relief for many women, I find this “solution” by governments to be problematic.

First of all, women-only buses and trains are not offered with enough frequency to allow all women to use them, and they do not prevent men from harassing women at subway platforms or bus stops.

Image from AFP

Second, in some cases they plainly do not work. Last week when I was in India, I found out that it is common for men to ride on the women-only subway cars in Delhi. Last week fed up women made the news when they ordered a group of men who had infiltrated their subway car to do sit ups!

Third, and most importantly, they do not address the root problem: why are men harassing women? The initiatives do not hold men accountable for ending the behavior. Instead, the initiatives segregate women away from men to provide them with temporary relief from the harassment. They place the onus on women to try to stay safe instead of targeting the harassers and gropers and challenging that behavior.

In the long term, women-only public transportation will change nothing until women are respected and men are socialized not to harass and are penalized and socially shamed if they do.

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Ladies only at all times

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Malaysia is launching “ladies-only” cars on the KTM Komuter train for the Sentul-Port Klang route. Naturally there are pink stickers and banners to designate the cars as ones that are “Ladies only at all times.” And unsurprisingly, this new initiative is in response to men sexually harassing women on the train.

Segregation on public transportation is not a novel idea. In fact it’s becoming a worn out one. Let’s place the blame and the action on the perpetrators, not the women who are the targets! So here are some novel ideas, brought to you by me, off of the top of my head:

  1. Bar men who harass women from riding the trains.
  2. Give men who harass women citations and make them sit in men-wh0-harass-women cars.
  3. Give all women who ride the train mace to use on men who harass them.

In all seriousness though, check out the subway anti-sexual harassment campaigns occurring in Chicago, NYC, and Boston, which do not place the blame or the onus to avoid harassment on women. Let’s have more of that!

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Street Harassment Round Up – May 31

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Stories:

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem!

In the News:

Upcoming Events:

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

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Victims Have Obligation to Report Harassers?

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Selangor Community Awareness Association member and lawyer Honey Tan said sexual harassment on public transportation in Malaysia is common (as it is in many other countries) and she said many women don’t report it.

“‘Even if you don’t think the police can solve the case, the statistics are important to justify the police’s request for more manpower [sic]. Making a police report is not just your right, but your obligation,’ she said.”

There are tons of reasons why victims/survivors don’t report incidents of street harassment & assault, like not having enough time/energy, fear of being blamed for harassment/assault, fear of wasting time because complaint won’t be taken seriously, fear of retaliation from harasser, an inability to identify the harasser, etc. So saying it’s their obligation to report it may be a bit naive.

On the other hand, I do think that the problem of gender-based public harassment and assault by strangers won’t be taken seriously by law and policy makers unless the numbers show there’s a problem. The numbers won’t show there’s a problem if the crimes are vastly under reported (which they are).

So what about the creation of a lesser form/complaint one could fill out (anonymously and/or with the ability to do it online) if one doesn’t necessarily want to press charges but just wants to help show the real numbers of harassers? Does anyone know if such a form/system exists? Would there be too much room for false reporting? (Though what would the incentive be for false reporting if its purpose is to function as a way to gather data, not to prosecute the harasser?)

Otherwise, it seems like conducting surveys are the only way real harassment numbers can be shown, but that method isn’t perfect either.

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