Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

70 percent face harassment on public transportation in Sri Lanka

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More than 70 percent of women aged 15 to 45 surveyed in Sri Lanka said they’d experienced sexual harassment on public transportation. The survey was conducted by the Legal Aid Commission.

Via Lankasri News:

“[Chairperson of the commission] Mr. Wijeratne said that the victimized women in public transport were reluctant to complain the matter to the bus conductors, bus driver or the police. “The bus drivers and conductors alone cannot stop this menace, and the male commuters themselves should be shameful of doing such kind of bad habits. He further told the bus drivers and conductors were reluctant to give evidence against the culprits in Courts as it was effecting to their daily income.

LAC chairman further said the LAC with the participation of Road Passenger Transport Authority have allocated a two-week period to make the public aware to deter sexual harassment in public transport from last Friday (25) to December 10.”

This is not new information. More than 95 percent of women feel it’s unsafe to travel alone in public spaces in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and one in four women report sexual harassment on public transportation in the country, according to a new report from the Transport Ministry.

In response, goups like Reach Out and  Beyond Borders are doing important work to address and stop street harassment. One of my favorite initiatives was the “Man Up” event held over the summer.

I’m glad that the Legal Aid Commission is bringing attention to harassment on public transportation during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, and I hope they will continue to address it more long-term, or support groups that are, like Reach Out and Beyond Borders.

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“No groping” on buses in Colombia

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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.

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Harassment on Islamabad transportation is “rife”

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Let’s add another city to the list of places where a study shows harassment on public transportation is a big problem, shall we? It’s Islamabad, Pakistan.

The Social Research and Development Organisation (SRDO) surveyed 75 women commuters in Islamabad, aged 19 to 45, to find out more about women’s experiences with sexual harassment during their commute, particularly on “public transport wagons and buses.”

In the survey, the women “disclosed that inappropriate touching, making sexual comments and staring by male passengers is overwhelmingly rife. The respondents, however, made it clear that the incidents of harassment are far lesser in rickshaws and taxis.”

Via The International News:

“Farhana Hussain, a women rights activist, said, ‘We should not see the issue, harassment of women in public transport, in isolation as it is an open fact that harassment and violence against women inside four walls and on the streets is just one feature of our male dominated structure that always put blame on victims instead of helping them.’

She said successive governments have taken very positive steps and introduced specific legislation to curb violence and harassment against women in houses, at workplace and in public transport, but its implementation mechanism has made it difficult to provide any relief. A large majority of respondents, 59 per cent, informed that insufficient space for women passengers in buses and wagons is a major problem for them.

A nineteen-year girl student told the survey team that due to repeated incidents of harassment at the bus, she and her friend have started commuting in rickshaw. ‘Though travelling in rickshaw is quite expensive for us, we feel quite secure in it,’ she said, adding, ‘In my opinion the government should introduce women-only buses in big cities to tackle the issue of harassment of women passengers. ”

Women-only public transportation can provide much needed relief for women facing frequent harassment, but it doesn’t challenge or end the harassment! The harassment continues elsewhere. For example, in a recent study of more than 200 youth in Gujranwala, Pakistan, 96 percent of the girls experienced street harassment. So, do we need women-only streets, too?! No, we need comprehensive and multi-layered action to address and end the pervasiveness of public harassment.

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“STOP STARING AT ME”

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Every morning on my way to work, I ride the same bus. I have been riding this bus for 3 years. A couple of months ago, I started noticing that this middle-aged white male in business suit attire would stare at me continually for the duration of the bus ride. He sits sideways in his seat so that he can swivel his head 180 degrees and see me no matter where I sit on the bus – in front of him, behind him, to the side; it doesn’t matter where I sit because he’ll adjust his posture to find me. His constant leering makes me incredibly uncomfortable and ruins my morning commute.

In the beginning, I stared back, hoping to make him uncomfortable. One time I mouthed the word, “NO,” and shook my head at him. These passive attempts have had no effect and he continues to ogle me.

Yesterday, I was waiting for my bus to return home and all of a sudden this same man was standing next to me. I had my hands full of two heavy grocery bags and felt completely defenseless. I started to feel scared that he was beginning to stalk me. He knows what stop I get off/on the bus. What’s to stop him from following me home one afternoon?

Today I was close to standing up from my seat on the bus and saying something to him. I want to say, “Stop staring at me,” loudly so that everyone on the bus can hear me. I think that the more people who witness assertive actions against harassment the better because the peer effect is incredibly strong. Another option I’ve considered is simply writing or typing out “STOP STARING AT ME” on a piece of paper and giving it to him.

This is by far the worst “street” harassment I’ve experienced in my 13 years riding public transportation. I would say that I experience harassment from men on a daily basis while out on the street/at work/shopping, etc., but never to this extreme on a bus.

I consider myself to be a very tough person and am used to living in an urban environment where one has to constantly deflect “attacks,” but I didn’t realize how damaging mere leering could be. When I was in Chicago this past weekend, I saw advertisements on the CTA which read: “If it’s unwanted, it’s harassment. Touching. Rude Comments. Leering. Speak up. If you see something, say something.” After reading that, I realized that I didn’t even know that this kind of harassment was something I didn’t HAVE to endure. I just accepted it as life.

Minneapolis public transit NEEDS these advertisements on its buses and trains. The more people who are exposed to these sorts of messages, the more likely it is that this kind of harassment will cease. I find it sad that we need to tell men how to behave in 2010. Our society is going backwards.

– anonymous

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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A Jewish woman’s stories (part 3 of 3)

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I have had 3 unpleasant incidences of street harassment, and this was the latest and worst [read incidents 1 and 2].

I live in New Jersey and my boyfriend lives in Manhattan, and we only see each other on the weekends. We therefore try to squeeze in as much time together as possible, which frequently results in me waiting in Penn Station for a train late at night.

On this particular night, I was waiting at midnight on the top of the steps leading from a busy corridor into the NJ Transit concourse. I saw a black man in a black winter hat walking through the concourse below me, holding an open pack of Newport cigarettes. He got to me and offered me one. I turned him down. He then offered me a new MetroCard, still wrapped. Nonplussed, I told him that I already had one. He made some comment about my jeans which I didn’t catch, then tried to put his arm around my back, (a move which I can’t stand thanks to my first encounter with street harassment,) and I flinched away. He commented on it, and added, “You’re not PREJUDICED or anything, right? It’s not because I’m BLACK, is it?”

I replied, “No, I’m not prejudiced. I just really don’t like strangers touching me.”

He then got me to exchange names and shake hands (he’d made me feel like I had to prove that I wasn’t racist), held my hand too long, and said, “Your hand is cold.” I said, “I just came in from outside!” He then held my hand a second longer, let go, said, “Have a good night, baby,” and disappeared.

I felt hideously violated, even though all he’d done was touch my back and make comments. I felt like he hadn’t done anything that the police would act on, plus I wasn’t sure where the nearest police booth was, so I didn’t report it.

However, I started having massive anxiety attacks at the thought of being in Penn Station after 9 PM, which resulted in my spending an extra night with my boyfriend several times. It was weeks before I managed to face my fear and go back to my normal routine, and then it was only with the help of my boyfriend accompanying me to the station that I did so. I had the worst anxiety attack I’ve had in years the night my boyfriend accompanied me from his apartment at 10 PM, but I am now back to my regular routine. However, I now carry pepper spray, and I know the locations of the police booths around the NJ Transit area. (Ironically, I was only yards away from one, though that booth is not always occupied.)

I am furious – no man should ever have the power to make a woman afraid to do *anything!*

– HD

Location: Penn Station, NYC

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

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