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Street Harassment Weekly – Jan. 5-11, 2015

January 12, 2015 By BPurdy

Welcome to the Street Harassment Weekly, your update on all the street harassment news you missed from the past week. Here’s what’s been going on:

The ATM At Which Women Can Report Sexual Assault – “In the Indian state of Odisha, the state government estimates that around 60 per cent of sexual assaults against women go unreported. The ICLIK, developed by the Odisha government and OCAC, a local computer company, allows women to log a report of assault or harassment while appearing to visit a bank machine.”

Indian “Sex Offender” Forced to Bend Over To Be Smacked By Women– “Is this India’s new, creative way of disciplining sex offenders? A man, 23, accused of sexually harassing several young women in central India was reportedly forced to bend over in the middle of a public street to have his buttocks smacked by a group of angry schoolgirls.”

Commentary: Why Do We Ask For Gender-Segregated Transport For Women If The Problem Is Men Behaving Badly? – “Women need to be able to occupy public spaces and use public transport in the same way that men do. We need to go to work and school and walk the streets without fear – and a women-only train car doesn’t do anything but offer a temporary solution filled with too many gaps. If we want to stop harassment on subways and buses, we need to start with men and getting them to change their actions.”

Acid Attacks: The Other Half of the Story You Don’t Know– “Acid attacks are seen as one of the most horrendous crimes against women. However, not only women, men are equally prone to the attacks. Chandras Mishra from Meerut is an acid attack victim. He was attacked with the lethal chemical three years back by his landlord’s son, who he had stopped from eve teasing a woman.”

Four Arrested for Eve-Teasing in Hyderabad – “The victim, in her complaint to the police, said that on Friday while she and her sister were returning from a shop the accused started to tease her. When she stopped and questioned them, one of the accused tried to pull her scarf.”

One Tweet Sums Up The Struggle Every NYC Woman Faces On the Sidewalk – “This is called “manslamming,” which Jessica Roy, who interviewed Breslaw about her experience for the Cut, defines as “the sidewalk M.O. of men who remain apparently oblivious to the personal space of those around them” who “will walk directly into you without even acknowledging it” should someone fail to move out of their path.”

It Happened To Me: I Was Catcalled Wearing the Equivalent of a Down Comforter – “Women get catcalled in skirts. They are catcalled in jeans. They get whistled at in trench coats, in yoga pants, in business suits. The problem with catcalling does not lie with women’s clothing. Rather, the problem is with the men who do it.”

The Backlash Against African Women – “Public strippings represent the front lines of a cultural war against women’s advancements in traditionally conservative but rapidly urbanizing societies. They aren’t really about what women are wearing. They are much more about where women are going.”

Street Harassment: Why It’s Not Ok To Comment On Me – “A woman’s body is part of a person; it’s not an object. I am a woman, and my body belongs to me and no one else. Strangers on the street having the right to comment on it? When did that happen? Did I miss the memo?”

CONTEST:
Female Singer-Songwriters wanted to help create anti-street harassment video

UPCOMING EVENT:
Challenging Violence Against Women and Girls on UK Public Transport–
DATE: Tuesday 20th January 2015
TIME: 10.45 to 13.00 (with lunch provided 13.00-14.00)
VENUE: Room G1 & G2, British Transport Police Force Headquarters, 25 Camden Road, London NW1 9LN

 

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment, weekly round up Tagged With: acid attacks, Hyderabad India, ICLIK, India, jessica valenti, manslamming, NYC, Odisha, public stripping, UK Public Transport, women-only public transportation

I Rode the Ladies-Only Subway Car in Cairo

July 25, 2012 By HKearl

Women ahead of me board the Ladies-Only Car in Cairo

Recently I went to Egypt for a vacation with my dad. It was a great trip full of history, culture, and meetings with anti-street harassment activists. When we had two hours free on our last afternoon, I suggested we take a subway ride.

I’ve spoken, read, and written about women-only public transportation for years, but I’d never actually seen one before. I wanted to. I knew Cairo had women-only subway cars.

On a crowded subway platform in downtown Cairo on a Wednesday afternoon, groups of Egyptian women clustered together under brightly lit blue signs that read, “Ladies,” while men and a few women spread out across the rest of the platform. Once a subway train arrived, everyone rushed to board. Most women piled into the “Ladies Only” cars, designated by red signs above the doors. I joined them.

A few women assisted me when my bag got stuck in the closing doors. While it is not unusual to see women without head coverings on the streets, on the subway, as I looked around, every woman was wearing a hijab. Sweat poured from our faces because the car had no air conditioning on a 110 degree day. No one talked, but one woman, who was getting off at the next stop, gestured to offer me her seat. I thanked her, but I didn’t take the seat as I got off at the next stop too.

Talking with the nice woman who wished me a good visit when I got off the Ladies-Only car

Leaving the train, masses of bodies churned past each other. One woman sought me out and spoke to me in English, asking where I was from and wished me a nice stay.

Next, I rode in a regular car where I was one of only three women among a mass of men. The two other women were accompanied by men who protectively wrapped their arms around them. I felt much less comfortable there than I did in the ladies-only car, in part because I was so out of place. While most men left me alone, one man standing next to me stared at me the entire two minutes. I avoided making eye contact with him and was relieved to leave the train at the next stop.

Most people in the United States are shocked when I tell them that other countries have resorted to women-only public transportation because sexual harassment is so bad. From the research I did for my book about street harassment, I know that countries ranging from Japan and Mexico to India and Egypt have subway cars and/or buses reserved just for women in their major cities.

While I’ve heard women say they are glad when they can ride in the women-only cars and take a break from being on guard and wary of male passengers, I don’t believe it should be the solution. The solution should be an end to harassment!

First, logistically, segregation does not solve the problem of harassment. Often the women-only transportation is only offered during rush hour and on major lines, throughout the day and city, most women must use the regular trains and buses. Platforms and bus lines are not fully sex segregated, nor are the streets people walk to reach the buses or subways, so there are plenty of opportunities to endure harassment. Sometimes men just get on the women-only cars anyway. (An Egyptian woman on Twitter just told me that a group of feminists in Egypt take videos of men who ride in the ladies-only car and post them on this YouTube Channel.)

The platform sign in Cairo

Second, from a gender equality standpoint, it’s a frustrating that governments think the solution is gender segregation. Don’t we want integration and equality? Would segregation ever be considered a solution for race-based harassment? Why is it when it comes to men sexually harassing women? (If we do have to have sex segregation, should it be to segregate the harassers into their own subway cars and buses? Once you harass, you get stamped so everyone knows where you belong?!)

Instead, I think the governments and community groups should focus more effort on teaching respect in the schools, holding awareness campaigns, encouraging people to report harassers, and enforcing punishments for the worst perpetrators.

In Washington, DC, I am proud that I recently helped pressure the transit authority to do something about sexual harassment on our Metro train and bus system. At the suggestion of myself and others organized by Collective Action for Safe Spaces, the transit authority launched an anti-harassment public service announcement campaign, improved their employee trainings, and created an email address and online report form for incidents of harassment. These tactics do not place the onus on women alone to stay safe (e.g. some men say if women aren’t in the women-only cars, they’re “fair game” for harassment) and they provide people with constructive ways to deal with harassment.

What are your thoughts about women-only public transportation?

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Filed Under: street harassment Tagged With: Cairo, Egypt, ladies-only, women-only public transportation

In Korea, 25 percent of women face harassment on public transportation while commuting

January 27, 2011 By HKearl

From the Korea Times:

“A survey showed that one out of four women who commute using public transportation have experienced sexual harassment, Wednesday.

The survey of 1,500 men and women by the Korea Transport Institute and the Korean Women’s Development Institute also found out that almost half of the female respondents were scared of being harassed or experiencing violent driving when in a taxi.

Men and women showed different results when asked about inconveniences when using subways, buses or taxis.

About 26 percent of the women said they experienced sexual harassment on buses and 21 percent on the subway, compared to 2.3 percent and 2.4 percent of men respectively.

About 52 percent of the female respondents considered taxis as the dangerous means of transportation, citing reasons such as crimes including kidnapping and sexual assaults (31 percent) and violent driving (16 percent).

The institute pointed out the needs of countermeasures regarding harassment, such as reintroducing the women-only subway cars. It also suggested ideas to prevent violence in taxis, including introducing women-only taxis.”

Really? Their only idea for dealing with the high rate of commuter harassment on public transportation is women-only subway cars and taxis?! Arg.

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment Tagged With: harassment on the commute, korea, women-only public transportation

Women-only buses launch in Malaysia

December 2, 2010 By HKearl

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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Filed Under: News stories Tagged With: malaysia, women only buses, women-only public transportation

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