philippines Archives | Stop Street Harassment

UK Campaign, Philippines Law

February 15, 2017 By HKearl

Two big stories this week –> a new anti-harassment campaign in the UK and a new law introduced in the Philippines

“A poll by England Athletics revealed that a large proportion of women feel anxious when running alone, with nearly half of those surveyed stating that this is due to personal safety concerns…

Of those who had experienced harassment, shouting and car horns beeped by passing motorists were the most common.

But RunTogether, a national programme from England Athletics to get more people jogging regularly, aims to erase this via its This Girl Can Run campaign…

The RunTogether website provides instant access to a rapidly growing network of multiple local running groups in Lancashire.”

Via the Manila Bulletin:

“Sen. Risa Hontiveros [in the Philippines] filed on Tuesday a bill that seeks to protect women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from harassment, especially on the streets and other public spaces.

Hontiveros said she filed the measure, Senate Bill 1326, in response to the growing number of gender-based harassment in public spaces such as the case of a female student from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who was allegedly groped in a public utility vehicle by a fellow student.

The bill, also known as the “Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act of 2017,” seeks to penalize gender-based street and public spaces harassment such as catcalling, wolf-whistling, cursing, leering, groping, persistent request for name and contact details and the use of words tending to ridicule on the basis of actual or perceived sex, gender expression, or sexual orientation and identity including sexist, homophobic and transphobic slurs.”

Quezon City already has a similar bill at the city-level, passed last year.

Philippines: City of Stars Has ‘Anti-Catcalling Ordinance’

January 24, 2017 By Correspondent

Ken Rodrigo, Makati City, Philippines, SSH Blog Correspondent

More than being the Philippines’ Hollywood and Metro Manila’s largest city, Quezon City recently made its mark as the first local government to enact a law penalizing street-level harassment. Enacted last May, the ‘Anti-Catcalling Ordinance’ intends to protect and empower women by imposing a fine and prison term for acts constituting sexual harassment in public spaces. While only women (and girls) may be victims under the local law, the offender may be of any sex.

The ordinance proposed by lady councilor Lena Mari Juico is part of the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Initiative of UN Women.

The ordinance divides violations into light, medium and severe. A person may be fined or jailed up to a month for committing light violations such as cursing, catcalling, repeatedly asking the subject for a date or her contact number, or taunting a woman with constant talk about sex. With the same penalties as light, medium violations include stalking, making offensive mouth, hand or body gestures with intention to demean or threaten a woman.

Acts such as unnecessary touching, pinching or brushing against the subject’s body, public masturbation or lascivious exhibition directed at a woman, or inserting any object into the genitalia, anus or mouth of a victim regardless of sex constitute severe violations which carry a higher fine or jail term from one month to a year. Corresponding penalties are also provided for repeated violations.

Victims may file a complaint at the women’s desk of police precincts or seek assistance by calling the Quezon City Police Department (QCPD) hotline. Other implementation measures were also set such as strengthening the ‘barangays’ or community administrations.

The attention gained by the ordinance allowed Filipinos to discuss the important yet neglected issue of street harassment. Some were delighted by the city’s initiative and called other cities to follow suit. There were others who wished for the policy to be a national legislation. However, those who disapproved criticized the ordinance’s penal provisions arguing that a jail term is disproportionate to the offense, and expressed concern about the vagueness of the acts constituting harassment, the feasibility of implementation, and the possibility of the abuse of the ordinance by women against men. While the breakthrough ordinance spells hope for the anti-street harassment movement, it also reflects the movement’s struggle with breaking misogynist culture.

The City of Stars shines bright with this safe public spaces initiative. It champions women’s rights and serves as a model for other cities. Next, the national government should include street harassment in its human rights agenda in order to meaningfully promote safe cities and public spaces throughout the country.

Ken is a teacher of international studies at a university in Manila. After law school, she traveled to Denmark and eventually studied in Malmö University in Sweden where she earned her master’s in Human Rights. You can contact her at krnrdrg@gmail.com or on Facebook.

Bonus Day: International Anti-Street Harassment Week

April 18, 2016 By HKearl

Even though April 16 was the official end of International Anti-Street Harassment Week, a few more events took place on April 17.

Women for a Change held a workshop for youth in Buea, Cameroon.

4.17.16 Women for a Change Cameroon youth workshop 3

4.17.16 Women for a Change Cameroon youth workshop 4

4.17.16 Women for a Change Cameroon youth workshop

Hollaback! Ottawa hosted a chalkwalk in Ottawa, Canada.

4.17.16 HB Ottawa sidewalk chalking, canada

4.17.16 HB Ottawa sidewalk chalking, canada 7

4.17.16 HB Ottawa sidewalk chalking, canada 3

Also, many virtual campaigns took place across the week:

OCAC Bolivia:

Hollaback! Cuenca, Ecuador:

HarassMap in Egypt:

4.11.16 Imprint Movement - 'It's ok' won't help her getting her right back, an official complaint will get it

4.12.16 Imprint Movement - 'The law in on your side... Speak UP'

4.13.16 HarassMap Egypt - 82 percent of bystanders dont intervene bc they think SH is not a big deal

Stop Harcelement de Rue, Paris, France:

OCAC Guatemala:

OCAC Nicaragua:

4.17.16 Observatorio Contra el Acoso Callejero Nicaragua 7

4.17.16 Observatorio Contra el Acoso Callejero Nicaragua 4

4.17.16 Observatorio Contra el Acoso Callejero Nicaragua 5

Safecity India, #MySafeCity:

Mexico. 20 women living in Mexico City from different ages, occupations and backgrounds worked together towards the development of a campaign against sexual harassment, “Space is public, my body is not”. The artwork consists of a series of photographs created by the visual artist Cerrucha :

Nepal. #VoicesinCrisis:

The Philippines, Stand Up, Speak Out- From Streets to Schools – a campaign of the Game Changers with the UN Safe Cities Metro Manila Programme:

4.13.16 Stand Up, Speak Out- From Streets to Schools - a campaign of the Game Changers with Safe Cities Metro Manila 4

4.14.16 Stand Up, Speak Out- From Streets to Schools - a campaign of the Game Changers with Safe Cities Metro Manila 5

4.13.16 Stand Up, Speak Out- From Streets to Schools - a campaign of the Game Changers with Safe Cities Metro Manila 8

New Studies in the Philippines and Israel

March 8, 2016 By HKearl

The UK was not the only country to have a new study about street harassment released for International Women’s Day, statistics were released in the Philippines and Israel, too.

Philippines:

In February 2016, SWS surveyed people in barangays Payatas and Bagong Silangan in Quezon City regarding sexual harassment in public spaces.

Prevalence:

88% of women ages 18 to 24 experienced sexual harassment at least once.

1 in 7 of the surveyed women experienced sexual harassment at least once every week in the past year.

Types:

Across all ages, 12 to 55 and above, wolf whistling and catcalling were the most common forms. However, 34% of women experienced the “worst forms” of sexual harassment: flashing, public masturbation, and groping.

Perpetrators:

Seventy percent of women said they were harassed by a “complete stranger,” while others said it was by “someone they see around the neighborhood,” acquaintances, and “someone they are close to.”

3 out of 5 men surveyed confessed to committing a form of sexual harassment at least once in their lifetime, while 1 in 7 admitted to doing it at least daily over the past year.

When:

The majority of the incidents happen in broad daylight. Seventy percent of cases happen during the day, between 6 am and 6 pm, and only 4% of cases were reported occurring at night.

You can read more survey results and learn about the UN Women campaign underway in the city via this Rappler article.

Israel:

The organization NA’AMAT release a survey about youth and sexual harassment, the following is pulled from a Jerusalem Post article about it.

Prevalence:

68% of girls responded that they were harassed by a man they didn’t know on the street at least once, while 45% said this happened more than once.

Perpetrators:

47% of boys admitted that they had shouted out to a woman or girl that they didn’t know on the street and around 34% said they had done this more than once.

Attitudes:

“A little over a third of youth – both boys and girls – said that if a woman acts or dresses provocatively then she shares in the blame of sexual assault. Only 53% of youth felt that only the attacker was to blame in the case of sexual assault.”