Street harassment: a problem for women, but for men. Let’s fix this together | notice

The murder of Briton Sarah Everard caused a stir last week. After a visit to a friend, Everard (33) returned home around 9:30 p.m., but she did not come home: she was kidnapped and murdered, her body was found in a forest east of London.

Disgust

All over the world there was a horror reaction. And this has led to a renewed interest in the safety of women on the streets, or rather: its absence.

With the hashtag #saraheverard, women shared their own experiences en masse. It showed that really every woman uses “tricks” to get home safely, like not wearing heels and making false calls. Many women turn on the “find my friends” option on their phones and hold their keys so they can remove them when they need to.

Send a message

The phrase “text me when you get home” has also become trending: a reference to the demand, which every woman knows, to send a message when you are safely home.

It is simply shocking that such a terrible crime causes us to dwell on a problem we all know, however absurd and unacceptable that it may be: women are by definition less safe in public space than men.

And that’s not just what can happen to women walking down the street, but also the comments women get thrown at their heads. An initiative like Chat calls from , both in Groningen and in other cities, shows very simply what kind of shit women get dumped on them in the public space. Quite simply, chalking those kinds of comments to where it’s actually happening.

From and for everyone

In Groningen, we are working to reclaim public space: public space must belong to and for all. This means, among other things, that we are looking for less space for cars and more space to walk, stay and green spaces.

But it also means – at least as importantly – that everyone in the public space should be equally safe and also feel safe.

‘Own fault’ – nonsense

Unfortunately, the discussion about women’s safety is not always very constructive. People often point to the fictitious responsibility of women themselves, that they shouldn’t wear short skirts and more of this kind of nonsense “on their own”. The problem is still not taken seriously enough.

In the meantime, on the initiative of GroenLinks and Cat Calls of Grunn, we have started to build a coalition to tackle this problem in Groningen. In collaboration with various groups of the city council, the municipality and all kinds of organizations and initiatives.

In doing so, we focus on empowering women, but most importantly also on the shared responsibility of women and men to address this issue and together ensure that everyone on the streets is safe.

Their problem, our fault

Street harassment is a problem for women, but for men. It’s not for women to deal with this just because it bothers them. Men should say, “Their problem, our fault. We will solve it together.

The #reclaimthestreets campaign has now started in Britain, in which women advocate for safe access to the streets at night. And this is the crux of the matter: the streets belong to all of us, everyone should feel safe there and be safe, without exception.

Mirjam Wijnja and Jeffry van Hoorn are respectively group chairman and advisor on behalf of GroenLinks Groningen