Life Social Good
97% of young
women have been
sexually harassed,
study finds
That's almost all women aged 18
to 24 surveyed.
By Rachel Thompson on March 10, 2021
Only 3 percent of young women haven't experienced
public sexual harassment, the study found. Credit: Getty
Images / IStockphoto
> Life
!e majority of women and girls in the UK
have experienced sexual harassment in
public places, according to new data from
U.N. Women.
!e study found that 97 percent of women
aged 18 to 24 have experienced sexual
harassment in public spaces, and more than
70 percent of women of all ages have
endured such behaviour.
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!e data was collected from a YouGov
survey of over 1,000 women commissioned
in January 2021 by U.N. Women UK, the
United Nations entity dedicated to gender
equality in the country. !e research also
showed a lack of faith in authorities, with
just four percent of women telling YouGov
they'd reported incidents of harassment to
an o"cial organisation, and 45 percent of
women stating they didn't believe reporting
it would change anything.
!e data, which forms part of U.N. Women
UK's Safe Spaces Now campaign, will be
referred to the government and other public
bodies in a bid to e#ect changes. "We've
collected stories and ideas from over 1,000
women and girls, and now we're taking
those demands to the owners and
administrators of public spaces, asking them
to implement our solutions now, in time for
the UK's end to lockdown," reads the
organisation's open letter to leaders.
SEE ALSO: How 'hatewank' videos
became a tool for harassing women in
the public eye
"!is is a human rights crisis. It's just not
enough for us to keep saying 'this is too
di"cult a problem for us to solve' – it needs
addressing now," Claire Barnett, executive
director of U.N. Women UK, told the
Guardian.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We are looking at a situation where younger
women are constantly modifying their
behaviour in an attempt to avoid being
objecti$ed or attacked, and older women are
reporting serious concerns about personal
safety if they ever leave the house in the dark
— even during the daytime in winter."
!e organisation added that not enough was
being done by lawmakers, owners of public
spaces, and people responsible for funding
and decision making, and called for better
designed public spaces, education, and
more robust reporting systems.
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