The Mayor of Greater Manchester (UK) Andy Burnham this week launched a new campaign aimed at men and boys, challenging their behaviours to tackle sexual harassment of women and girls in public spaces. As part of the campaign, the mayor’s office launched this new video highlighting the experiences women and girls face going about their daily lives.
Bev is Baroness Bev Hughes, the Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice.
The website www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/… describes the video thus —
The video tells the story of a young woman being sexually harassed on social media, out jogging, coming out of a coffee shop and out at night. Some may perceive this behaviour as everyday harassment, but the video shows the impact it has on those on the receiving end and asks the question ‘Do you think this is OK?’. The hashtag for the campaign for social media is #IsThisOK.
The video aims to get men and boys to recognise these types of behaviours are not ‘OK’: they are unsolicited intrusions which make women feel uneasy, threatened or even vulnerable. GMCA worked with women’s groups and men and boys as part of the development of the video. Every woman will recognise these experiences.
The video will be taken out into schools, colleges and other community settings in the New Year and will be the first in a range of activities and public engagement about gender-based violence and challenging men’s and boys’ behaviours.
Here are some statistics about sexual harassment in public places from www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/… -
- 71% of women of all ages in the UK have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space.
- This number rises to 86% among 18-24-year-olds.
- Over 95% of all women did not report their experiences of sexual harassment
The Government’s Equalities Unit Sexual Harassment Survey 2020 based on 12,131 responses found that:
- 43% experienced at least one sexual harassment behaviour in the last 12 months.
- The three most commonly experienced sexual harassment behaviours were:
- unwelcome sexual jokes
- staring or looks
- sexual comments
- In terms of where the harassment occurred:
- 42% on the street or walking around
- 31% in a club, pub or bar
- 28% on public transport
- 54% of people who had experienced sexual harassment in the last year reported that they felt it had very or fairly affected their quality of life.
The Campaign
This is not the first action by the city on this subject; the site greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/… lists resources available to women and men on reporting, support, counseling, and education. This campaign aims to raise awareness and help bring about change at a societal level. The campaign is part of Greater Manchester’s 10-year Gender-Based Violence Strategy published in September 2021, which allocates resources and empowers local government and community groups to foster change.
In their own words
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice explaining the campaign -
Reactions from those involved in the campaign —
Alison MckenzieFolan, CEO Wigan Council - “Today we met for the inaugural meeting of GM Gender-Based Violence Board with @AndyBurnhamGM @DeputyMayorofGM. The strategy, priorities & action plan are guided by the voices of those with lived experience. Two women in the UK are killed every week by acts of violence #IsThisOK”
Duncan Craig OBE, CEO Survivors Manchester — “This morning at the new Greater Manchester Gender Based Violence Board, I saw a preview of this short film and it completely blew me away. Please share far and wide and lets have a proper adult discussion #GreaterManchester about ending these micro aggressions because we can!”
Crimestoppers — “What a brilliant campaign showing that #SexualHarassment takes many forms, and all of them need to be stopped. If you have information that could help keep your community safe by stopping those behind it, our charity is here for you to speak up, 100% anonymously.”
Chief Inspector Lorna McEwan — ”We are supporting #IsThisOK campaign in Manchester - please text 61016 if you see any of this type of behaviour on the rail network”
There are many responses on twitter to the video tweet of people describing their experiences, offering advice and expressing praise and hope for this campaign.
Here is a powerful video from another similar campaign in Scotland earlier this year -
Epilogue
Obviously this video and campaign is a small part of the monumental work to change centuries of unwanted behavior of men towards women that has been learnt and taken for granted. We have made slow progress but something like this that publicly reaches out to all corners of society will certainly make a dent.
What do you think? What suggestions do you have for bringing change in our communities?