Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Malawian women march to protest attacks

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Women protest...Via Taipei Times

Last week groups of street vendors in the African country of Malawi harassed and attacked women, groping and stripping them naked if they were wearing pants or short skirts instead of a traditional dress.

There used to be a 30-year ban against women wearing pants or mini-skirts in Malawi, but it ended in 1994. Some men apparently think there should still be a ban and last week’s attack is just one example of their treatment of women in the capital Lilongwe and other towns like Mzuzu and Blantyre.

Via CNN:

“They beat them up and stripped them naked, claiming they did not follow the tradition,” said Seodi White, a rights activist and protest organizer. “Attacking women in trousers is an outrage. We are a democracy, they’re taking us back to the dark ages.”…

“Women have a right to wear what they want,” White said… “This is an embarrassment to our nation and an outright contempt for women.”

On Friday, hundreds of women and some men gathered to protest the attacks, wearing pants, miniskirts and leggings in a show of solidarity. Some women wore white T-shirts that said, “Real men don’t harass women,” and “Today we buy your merchandize, tomorrow you strip us naked!” since the most recent attacks were by store vendors. They chanted, “we are strong, we are strong,” and demanded an end to the attacks.

“Some of us have spent our entire life fighting for the freedom of women,” Malawian Vice President Joyce Banda told the protesters. “It is shocking some men want to take us back to bondage.”

Their protest drew the attention of President Bingu wa Mutharika and he warned the perpetrators to stop the attacks, saying women have a right to wear what they want: “I will not allow anyone to wake up and go on the streets and start undressing women and girls wearing trousers because that is criminal.”

He also ordered police to arrest anyone attacking women over their clothing and 15 men have already been arrested.

Street harassment and violence is often a mechanism for social control and that motive is clear in these attacks: men want to control how women dress. But sorry men, the women aren’t going to stand for it and neither is the president!

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Trying to Change the Law

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From AP
Women protesting at the trial. Image from AP

Today was the trial for Sudanese journalist  Lubna Hussein, one of the women I reported on earlier who were arrested for wearing trousers in public. Most of the women received a flogging, but Hussein and two others elected to have a public trial in the hopes of raising awareness about the oppressiveness of the laws and to try to change them.

According to the AP:

“In an attempt to rally support, Hussein printed invitations to diplomats, international media, and activists to attend her trial which opened last week. She also resigned from her job in the U.N.’s public information office in Khartoum, declining the immunity that went along with the job to challenge the law.

Around 100 supporters, including many women in trousers as well as others in traditional dress, protested outside the court Tuesday.

Witnesses said police wielding batons beat up one of Hussein’s lawyers, Manal Awad Khogali, while keeping media and cameras at bay. No injuries were immediately reported.

‘We are here to protest against this law that oppresses women and debases them,’ said one of the protesters, Amal Habani, a female columnist for the daily Ajraas Al Hurria, or Bells of Freedom in Arabic.

While the police broke up the demonstration outside the Khartoum Criminal Court, the judge adjourned Hussein’s trial for a month to clarify whether her resignation has been accepted by the United Nations.”

How every brave of her and the other women. I hope their efforts won’t be in vain.

Also, as I said in my previous post: while this isn’t directly “street harassment” per say, a lot of discussion about street harassment ends up touching upon “what was she wearing” so I think this story is relevant from that aspect. Also, street harassment can be viewed as a kind of social control that keeps a lot of women off the streets at night and/or when they are alone and this incident in Sudan shows blatant and extreme forms of attempted social control over women.

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Flogged for Wearing Pants

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Friday, during a random raid on a cafe, Sudanese police arrested 13 women for wearing pants. There was a quick summary trial and ten of the women were flogged and fined 250 Sudanese pounds ($120). Two of the women chose to go on trial. Via AP News:

“Hussein [one of the two women] said she decided to speak out because flogging is a practice many women endure in silence. She even sent printed invitations to the press and public figures to attend her expected trial.

‘Let the people see for themselves. It is not only my issue,’ she said. ‘This is retribution to thousands of girls who are facing flogging for the last 20 years because of wearing trousers,’ she said. ‘They prefer to remain silent.'”

Good for her! (Aside: I can’t believe flogging still occurs . It seems so 19th century) While this isn’t directly “street harassment” per say, a lot of discussion about street harassment ends up touching upon “what was she wearing” so I think this story is relevant from that aspect. Also, street harassment can be viewed as a kind of social control that keeps a lot of women off the streets at night and/or when they are alone and this incident in Sudan shows blatant and extreme forms of attempted social control over women.

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