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Results of L’Oreal Paris’s 15-Country Street Harassment Study

April 11, 2021 By HKearl

L’Oreal Paris, one of our partners for this year’s International Anti-Street Harassment Week, recently released the results of a 15-country study on street harassment. With survey firm IPSOS, they surveyed a representative sample of around 1,000 women in each country between Jan. 25th – Feb. 9th, 2021, so the results represent approximately 15,000 women’s experience.

First, the results confirm once again that this is a pervasive and global problem! Around 80 percent of women across the 15 countries said they’ve experienced street harassment (with the highest figures coming from South Africa – 94% and Mexico – 92%).** The countries included in the survey were: Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, UAE, UK, and USA.

Personal experiences of street harassment in their lifetime, by country

The results also show how much this violation continued during the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, even with all the quarantines, lockdowns, social distancing, and increase in working and going to school remotely that came with it. Around one in three women (31%) said they faced street harassment last year. This figure is 46 percent for those ages 18 to 34. Additionally, 42 percent said they witnessed street harassment occur in the last year.

1 in 3 women in 14 countries said they have experienced street harassment in the last year

Thinking about the last year, 50 percent of respondents said they did not feel safe in public spaces! Among these women, reasons they gave for feeling unsafe included: not being able to see people’s faces behind masks (51%), there are fewer people around (36%), and shops are closed (10%).

75 percent said they avoided certain public spaces to try to avoid street harassment and 54 percent said they avoided some forms of public transportation specifically.

A unique feature of being in public spaces this past year is that many or most people wore masks. This did not help the situation of street harassment. Instead, 72 percent of women felt harassers were emboldened to harass because of the increased anonymity a mask gave them.

It is clear that street harassment continues to affect so many women’s lives in really significant and scary ways — the murder of British woman Sarah Everard while she walked home last month emphasizes this reality too.

L’Oreal Paris is partnering with Hollaback! to host free bystander online training sessions called Stand Up! to help combat this widespread problem. Check out the programs being offered this week and join one if you can!

Sign up for a free, interactive 1 hour Zoom training on standing UP against street harassment

** This survey only focused on women, ages 18 and up, and if teenagers and pre-teens were included and persons of all genders from the LGBTQ community and other targeted communities, I’m sure these figures would be even higher.

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week, Resources, street harassment Tagged With: global, loreal, research, study, survey

Take Our Survey on Street Harassment and Age

May 9, 2019 By HKearl

Recently, I’ve read a few street harassment stories in which women recount their first experiences of street harassment at ages as young as 11. Their harassers? Older teenagers or adult men. Based on the hundreds of stories I’ve read and heard over the years, I know this is pretty typical and pretty alarming.

I hope that if more people realized the predatory nature of so much street harassment — adult men preying on teenagers (and younger) — there would be much more outcry and efforts to try to stop it.

To that end, since our latest national studies (2018, 2019) show that a public space is the most frequent site for sexual harassment, I have created an informal survey for YOU to take about your first street harassment experience. How old were you? How old was your harasser? How did it affect you?

I anticipate using the results in blog posts, articles, factsheets and talks going forward. Anyone, anywhere is welcome to complete this short survey. Your answers will be anonymous, but you can choose to leave your email address at the end if you’d like to be contacted with the results.

THANK YOU!

Related, check out this op-ed at Essence penned by Girls For Gender Equity‘s CEO and our ally Joanne N. Smith, “#MeToo Isn’t Just for Adults.”

And if you missed it, be sure to check out (and share) our latest national study from April 30! Full Report | Two-Page Executive Summary | Press Release | Survey Questions | Street Harassment Factsheet

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Filed Under: Resources, SSH programs, Stories, street harassment Tagged With: age, research, survey

National Poll on Ride-Sharing and Sexual Harassment

December 28, 2018 By HKearl

Earlier this year, Alarms.org commissioned a poll of 500 women nationwide by the survey company Pollfish. Less than one percent of the women surveyed said they never used Uber and 28 percent reported they never used Lyft. Most of the women who did use the apps said they used them sporadically.

Alarmingly, many women reported feeling uncomfortable and experiencing harassment and assault during their rides. The full report is available here.

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Filed Under: Resources, street harassment Tagged With: lyft, ride-sharing, survey, uber

Kenya: Report on Violence Against Women and Girls on Public Transport

June 15, 2018 By Contributor

This is a guest blog post about a new baseline study on sexual harassment on public transit and related spaces in Nairobi County.

By Flone Initiative

NATURE OF VAWG

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public transport and its associated spaces has and continues to be a global problem. According to the Flone Initiative‘s  “Baseline Study on Violence against Women and Girls in Public Road Transport and Connected Spaces in Nairobi County, Kenya,” on average 73 percent of the survey respondents had heard/witnessed while 27 percent had not heard/witnessed any case. This means that such cases are common and do indeed occur in the public transport sector in the selected routes in Nairobi County.  The cases are taken with a high level of seriousness and thus would be expeditiously addressed if reported.

The most common forms of street harassment include the use of abusive language by the matatu crews and inappropriate physical contact that includes unnecessary touching of female passengers in an effort to coerce them to board the PSV and staring/winking. Cases of stripping/undressing and inappropriate gestures were the least cited. This could be due to the fact that they are extreme, though not uncommon. Other actions reported include men blocking the vehicle entrance or exit from women and comments with sexual connotations used with inappropriate gestures.

According to the findings, the major perpetrators of VAWG usually are public transport crew (drivers, conductors or touts) at 82 percent, followed by female passengers at 18 percent.  According to the study, male passengers are not perpetrators of VAWG. This implies that the matatu crews rank highest as perpetrators mostly due to the fact that they frequently interact with passengers. Other perpetrators include touts, drunk passengers and unauthorized persons in the bus stations. With regards to touts, it is worth noting that they act independently within the sector, most of them lack professionalism and are not regulated or bound by any code of conduct.  Therefore, it may be difficult to hold them to account with regard to VAWG cases they may be involved in.

The majority of women and girls said they hear or witness cases of sexual harassment once a month, while for others it is more than 5 times. Only a few said they do not hear nor witness such cases.  This shows that cases of sexual harassment are quite common in the public transport sector in Nairobi County.

PREVALENCE OF VAWG

Though there are certain spaces associated with violence and harassment, it is important to note that women and girls are harassed in both public and private spheres. It is also worth acknowledging that violence against women and girls denies them the capacity to explore and interact freely. Women and girls are more susceptible to harassment and violence due to the existing cultural norms and stereotypes.

According to the survey majority (64 percent) of harassment incidences occur at the bus stop/station, while 18 percent take place inside the vehicle. Only 9 percent were identified as occurring at the vehicle entrance. Others incidences were found to occur in spaces such as private hire cars/taxis. This is due to the fact that various unauthorized persons including touts hang around the bus stages and related spaces.

Alarmingly, some commuters (25 percent) attribute women’s clothing as a major contributing factor of VAWG.  Twenty-one percent attribute VAWG to the fact that police don’t take such cases seriously. It is worth noting that 18 percent believe that the failure by victims to report such cases is a major contributing factor.  Commuters also believe that the lack of reporting mechanisms in the PSV SACCOs and overcrowding in public transport vehicles does contribute to VAWG at 14 percent and 13 percent respectively. The lack of security personnel accounted for 5 percent while poorly lit and isolated bus stops were also identified as major contributors of harassment at 3 percent.

Violence and harassment is not only limited to women and girls utilizing public transport; women driving private cars also face verbal harassment. This includes hearing insults and harassment by matatu drivers during peak hours. Although harassment is common in some selected routes within the city of Nairobi, it is worth noting that, there were some SACCO’s that taken initiative to offer customer service training to their staff. This has been found to reduce confrontations between commuters and the operators.

RESPONSES TO VAWG

According to the survey, the most frequent response of commuters to harassment was to take no action (36 percent). Thirty percent reported incidents to the PSV SACCO officials and 26 percent confronted the perpetrator. Only 8 percent said they would report the case to the police, showing a distrust of police. However, it is comforting to note that a good number have faith in the fact that the PSV SACCO would address the matter and thus they are willing to report to the PSV SACCO officials.

Despite the SACCO managers being granted the mandate of maintaining order in their selected route, very few or none are doing a good job. According to the survey, the PSV SACCO managers would act or choose not to act depending on the magnitude of the harassment incident. The majority would refrain from any process that would involve them appearing before legal and justice systems.

The majority of the managers (37 percent) would sack the staff involved, 18 percent would have the case reported to the police and another 18 percent would take other forms of actions such as disciplinary action against the staff including suspension after investigation of the case. It is worth noting that only 9 percent said they would take no action, thus showing that they would be willing to address the issues brought to them. However, sacking the staff without investigations would not be an appropriate way of dealing with the issue since there is a probability of the sacked crew securing employment with another SACCO and hence continue perpetrating the vice.

While most of the managers stated they would take some form of action to address VAWG issues reported to them, only 27 percent said that the case was investigated and action taken. The majority (37 percent) said the case was only recorded and no further action was taken. Eighteen percent stated that the case would be trivialized and 9 percent claimed they would be blamed for the case. While it is disconcerting to note that no actions would be taken after the recording of the cases, it is comforting that at least a record of the reported cases is kept and can be followed up.

According to the survey, reporting an incident to the police is the most common action taken against perpetrators (32 percent).  A significant proportion (24 percent) would prefer not to get involved while 12 percent state that other forms of actions would be taken, such as suspending the staff involved after investigations and educating the perpetrator on professionalism.

Although some SACCO managers do report to the police, there are no perpetrators who have been arrested nor prosecuted. This explains why the managers choose to administer the punishment by themselves.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Operators

  • Observe professionalism with customers. Specifically, avoid using abusive language and inappropriate physical contact.
  • Understand that customers may have diverse needs, preferences, personalities and backgrounds that must be respected. Ensure courtesy at all times, especially as you help female clients.
  • Male operators should ensure a harmonious working relationship with their female colleagues as well as a conducive working environment free of harassment and discrimination.

Commuters

  • Know your rights as a commuter.
  • Report to the SACCO officials, security personnel or the police any cases of harassment that you witness or experience while commuting.
  • Obey and strictly adhere to all traffic rules to avoid confrontation with the law and other road users.

The Police Department

  • Expeditiously pursue and address cases of VAWG that are reported to ensure that perpetrators are brought to book and pay for their crimes.
  • Provide reporting mechanisms where commuters can express their grievances or report cases of VAWG.  This can be achieved by providing toll free lines on the vehicles or spaces managed by your PSV SACCO.

PSV SACCOs

  • Provide reporting mechanisms where commuters can express their grievances or report cases of VAWG.  This can be achieved by providing toll free lines on the vehicles or spaces managed by your PSV SACCO.
  • Route managers must ensure that only authorized persons operate the vehicles and deal with unauthorized persons in the bus stations where most harassment occurs.
  • Expeditiously follow up cases of VAWG that are reported and ensure that they fully investigated and addressed.
  • Advocate for the identification and regulation of touts by NTSA to ensure that they observe professional conduct in their jobs.
  • Ensure a conducive working environment free of harassment and discrimination.
  • Give incentives to the most disciplined crew.

Matatu Owners Association

  • Employ qualified drivers and operators, preferably those certified with customer care training.
  • Monitor the activities of the self-employed staff and ensure they are fit to handle customers.

CONCLUSION

VAWG remains an issue of concern both in public and private sphere.  Street harassment is common but not limited to the public transport vehicles and the related spaces. Women who operate private vehicles also face harassment occasionally. Though the stakeholders are aware of its existence, the majority of them play the silent bystanders role.  They choose not to report nor witnesses because they think the blame shall be laid to them. For the survivors who report the harassment, the police and the SACCO officials conduct little or no investigation. It is comforting that there are some SACCOs that have adopted a friendly customer care system.

Flone Initiative, is a women led organization registered as a trust based in Kiambu, Kenya, working towards ending violence against women and girls in public spaces by influencing behavioral change and promoting tolerance and acceptance by strengthening capacities at grassroots level.

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Filed Under: public harassment, Resources Tagged With: flone initiative, kenya, nairobi, public transport, research, survey

“There’s nowhere it doesn’t happen”

April 9, 2018 By Contributor

Cross-posted from Bristol Zero Tolerance

By Dr. Jelena Nolan-Roll

“One that sticks in my mind is when I was quietly eating a burger by the fountains in central Bristol at the end of a night out. A bloke came up and started harassing me and when he did not get the response he wanted (and I remained polite throughout) he grabbed my food and threw it across the square before stalking off. I felt very angry that there was no protection for me against someone stronger stealing from me, no help from the law. I was sure that even if a policeman had been nearby they would have dismissed it as the usual rough and tumble of a night out.”

Bristol Street Harassment Project survey respondent

Bristol was recently dubbed the best place to live in the UK. On a first glance, it has much to offer: breath-taking views, pirate stories, underground tunnels as well as the likes of Wallace and Gromit. However, if you are a woman considering a move to here, you should ask yourself how you feel about being harassed on the street as this is also a common occurrence in this top city as well.

Bristol Zero Tolerance understands gender-based harassment as unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent, and directed at them because of their real or perceived gender (whether male, female or non-binary). This type of harassment often takes place in public spaces, and in order to tackle this, the Bristol Street Harassment Project survey (BSHS) was created. More than 100 respondents have completed the survey in order to help explore the incidences and stories about street harassment in Bristol. It has unearthed many important issues- from geographical points where harassment is most likely to happen to specific stories of incidents.

In order to get a deeper insight in to the specifics of street harassment in Bristol, as well as to honour the bravery of those who have experienced it we have analysed these responses.

To start with, they tell a story about the harassment which knows no boundaries be it:

  • Gender – “As a trans non-binary person, I recently had 2 men shoulder-barge me in the chest”; ”A woman reported she was approached, questioned and followed by two men on the Lawrence Hill underpass on a light evening recently”; “A woman grabbed my testicles.”
  • Age – “First time I was harassed on the street, I was 13 and in my school uniform during secondary school”; “It’s happened since I was about 12 and been non-stop for the last 9/10 years”; “three days ago I was touched inappropriately by a young boy who wasn’t more than 15 years old. I’m 32.”
  • Time of day – “I was shouted at, at 10am on a public street.”
  • Or even the speed someone is moving at – “While running I was followed by a man”; “I was riding my bicycle in St Pauls when a man in a white van started shouting – hey there, sexy legs, sexy legs! I ignored him and he shouted louder and louder and then noticed there was a child in the vehicle and they started laughing”; “Mainly being shouted at in the street when on my bike – either derogatory comments about my weight or sexual comments. I have also been grabbed by men reaching out of car windows whilst I cycle.”

That is not to say that the harassers should restrict their comments to a certain age group, part of the town or time slot, but that the tide of their privilege washes across many shores with absolutely no regard to the local ecosystem. This is quite problematic.

Research has shown that harassment for a victim can have a plethora of negative psychological and emotional consequences, such as fear, anger, distrust, depression, stress, sleep disorders, self-objectification, shame, increased bodily surveillance, and anxiety about being in public. Therefore, by performing the act of street harassment the harasser makes public spaces feel unsafe for the victim and so excludes the victim from actively participating in that community with their voice. It is the voices and the stories that do not have a problem with harassment that stay dominant and are heard loudest.

According to the survey responses, this is how some of them do it:

Objectification

“I was riding my bicycle in St Pauls when a man in a white van started shouting – hey there, sexy legs, sexy legs! I ignored him and he shouted louder and louder and then noticed there was a child in the vehicle and they started laughing.”

Bristol Street Harassment Project survey respondent

“Sexual objectification doesn’t get oppressive until it is done consistently, and to a specific group of people, and with no regard whatsoever paid to their humanity. Then it ceases to become about desire and starts to be about control. Seeing another person as meat and fat and bone and nothing else gives you power over them, if only for an instant. Structural sexual objection of women draws that instant out into an entire matrix of hurt. It tells us that women are bodies first, idealised, subservient bodies, and men are not.”

Laurie Penny ‘Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution’ 2014

Based on the responses in BSHS, the harassers consistently and constantly objectify their victims: “I was followed up Park Street by a group of about 8 men who were out drinking. They were all commenting on how I looked ‘alright’ and how they should take me with them”; “a large group of men in their mid/late 30s (drunk) started shouting at me and my friend whilst walking towards us, they were making hand gestures and specifically targeting me, making comments about my clothes and body”. Most of the harrasers’ seem to be not aware of consequences. “It is just a game we lads play when we go out, innit?”

No it is not.

Feminist theory has shown how objectification leads to women feeling self-conscious about their body which in turn can bring about a host of issues. For example, being regularly reminded that the physical features you have are the most important aspects of you or that these do not align with what society considers ‘ideal’, is being regularly reminded of how, essentially, worthless your other qualities are. Goodbye, wonderfully complex person you spent ages developing and working on. Hello, self-depreciation, shame and anxiety. And then the victim moves deeper into herself, and away from the public space. Inequality wins again.

In addition to this, research also shows that street harassment increases self-objectification (Lord, 2009). When objectification is internalised and turns into self-objectification, it can also be a contributing factor in developing mood and eating disorders (Greenleaf and McGreer, 2006; Moradi, Dirks and Matteson, 2005).

So while boys play, girls tremble in terror. While a frightened person with potential mental health issues (like mood or eating disorders) will find it that much harder to be on the front lines of social change – so the vicious circle keeps spinning.

Another facet of the problem is that society is getting used to this kind of behaviour and normalises it.

Normalisation of street harassment

“Street harassment isn’t just annoying. It is scary and traumatising. Nonetheless, it has been accepted as everyday reality.” (Read and May in Kearl, 2010)

“Living with street harassment means… accepting assault and disrespect as normal” (Cathy Ramos, in Paludi and Denmark, 2010)

Responses also show the normalisation of street harassment in Bristol. For example: “My 13 year old daughter gets whistled at on a regular basis (in her school uniform)”; “A drunk man in his late 30s came and talked to me when I was sitting on the grass in Castle park. He was with 2 other men. I politely but firmly told him I wanted to continue reading yet he insisted on staying and talking. I then told him I wasn’t interested and he brushed me away with a hand gesture calling me something I didn’t understand but which made his friends laugh”.

Normalisation of street harassment takes place, among other factors, because street harassment itself serves as a powerful bonding tool for certain types of men, who often represent a dominant voice in society. Indeed, research has consistently shown that the reasons men engage in catcalling or objectifying women are to do with “feeling of youthful camaraderie” (Benard and Schlaffer, 1984:71) and male social bonding practices (Wesselmann and Kelly, 2010; Quinn, 2002).

On the other side – the victim side, this means living in fear of going to certain public places (i.e. in 1981 Riger and Gordon surveyed women in three cities, finding that a fear of violence severely restricted many women’s movements in public),  anxiety when walking home alone and learning from adolescence (71% of women in UK have been harassed before the age of 17 as an international survey on street harassment shows) that the fear and sexuality go together. This seems like a very high price to pay for the group of mates to become closer.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there.

Responses to harassment

“I felt like I had no option but to engage with him as I was afraid of his reaction and walked away feeling annoyed and frustrated that this had happened.” Bristol Street Harassment Project survey respondent

“On my way back to City of Bristol College Green after going to Greggs for lunch a man spat at me. I proceeded onward like nothing had happened and then cleaned off the Phlegm with some toilet roll in the College bathroom.” Bristol Street Harassment Project survey respondent

“One sure test of social privilege is how much anger you get to express without the threat of expulsion, arrest, or social exclusion.” Laurie Penny ‘Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution’ 2014

Due to the different raising patterns of girls and boys, where boys are the heroes of their own stories and girls are often a supportive character (Penny, 2014), most of the victims either do nothing or very little as a response to being harassed, often due to the fear that the situation will escalate or because they were simply taught that ‘good girls’ do not make a fuss. Unfortunately, good girls also make good victims – ones who just ignore when they are catcalled, do not respond back and are seen but not heard.

The departure from that sort of behaviour for a woman is often deemed newsworthy – for example, a woman who takes selfies with the harassers. Whereas this is a very creative and intelligent idea, it still occurs post hoc and doesn’t tackle the harassment per se, and not to mention that not all of the girls who get harassed are so brave.

For there is fear as well. Fear that they will be physically assaulted, fear that there will somehow be repercussions to them being victimised but also fear that they will not be taken seriously and that their concerns will be dismissed as something inconsequential. This fear is well justified, judging by the rage and anger of harassers who are stood up to (How dare she?!), but also by the internal belief of victims of abuse that the authorities will do nothing to protect them. One of the respondents explains it well:

“You are so objectified by these men that if you veer from their idea of an object, i.e. you fucking speak, their only response is pure confusion which within seconds becomes rage, how very fucking dare I speak when I’m being harassed?! Now you’re really going to get it. Now I don’t say anything and I hate myself for that because it feels so weak and voiceless.”

This is also evident in the responses of people who chose not to use the Call out Cards developed by Bristol Zero Tolerance as a way to address street harassment in a nonviolent way. When asked why they would not use them, many respond that it is out of fear of escalation or being ridiculed. For example: “Surely it would only inflame the situation, putting me in more danger, and would mean nothing to the harasser.”

This demonstrates even further the scope of normalisation of harassment and the ways the experiences of those on the receiving end are laced with fear and shame. Those who are doing the harassing do it with a conviction that it is somehow acceptable to objectify and catcall.

So they keep doing it.

Consequences of harassment

“[Harassment] was very, very intimidating, and made me feel insecure about wearing leggings / gym wear outside of the gym.” Bristol Street Harassment Project survey respondent

“I ended up borrowing my partner’s car and choosing a longer (more expensive) driving commute just to avoid [harassment] and continued to do this until I no longer needed to commute.” Bristol Street Harassment Project survey respondent

Interestingly, the most reported emotion in response to the harassment was anger. Whereas in most men the anger would lead to confrontation, be it verbal or physical, when it comes to victims of street harassment the reaction is quite the opposite. This again shows different ways boys and girls are socialised and taught to respond to anger. As the violence expert Rory Miller states: “Women are used to handling men in certain ways, with certain subconscious rules – social ways, not physical ones. These systems are very effective within society and not effective at all when civilization is no longer a factor, such as in violent assault or rape.” (Miller, 2008. 48)

Many women alter their behaviour as a consequence of experiencing street harassment. Changes range from choosing a different route home to moving away, like perfomer China Fish did after she had enough of being catcalled and abused on Bristol streets. Behaviour alterations are rarely, if ever, towards a more positive and fulfilled lifestyle. Those reported in BSHS are always towards a behaviour of avoidance – of certain streets, of certain clothes, or certain modes of transportation (i.e. a bicycle). And as we know, avoiding the problem does not solve it, unfortunately.

Conclusion

“Recognising gender as an aggravating factor in hate crime is a huge step towards ensuring the streets and homes we live in are free from prejudice.”

Avon and Somerset Police lead for Hate Crime, Superintendent Andy Bennett

Whereas Bristol may well be seen as one of the top ten cities to live in the UK, if you are a potential victim of street harassment, the results of the Bristol Street Harassment Survey indicate that you would probably be better off moving elsewhere or brushing  up on your self-defence skills.

Responses to the question about a specific incident of street harassment paint a picture where harassers (who are mostly men, but there was one woman as well) objectify the victims in an atmosphere which normalises the harassing behaviour. This leads to feelings of shame and fear in victims and results in behaviour changes, mostly on the scale of avoiding certain places or changing one’s dressing style in the hope that the harassment won’t take place.

At the core of this kind of harassment is a power dynamic that constantly reminds historically subordinated groups of their vulnerability to violence in public spaces and also reinforces the sexual objectification of these groups in everyday life. If this happens in a European Green Capital and one of top ten cities to live in the UK, what kind of situation do you think happens in less open spaces?

Dr. Jelena Nolan-Roll is a researcher at Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

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Filed Under: anti-street harassment week, Resources, Stories, street harassment Tagged With: Bristol, research, survey, UK

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