Shaheen Cheeroo
Barrister-at-Law
Whether in dark alleys or sunlit streets, women have endured street harassment throughout generations, in silence and powerlessness. Its criminalisation is long overdue, being a distressing issue that affects women at least once in their lifetime. It includes whistling, catcalling, leering, sexual comments, sexual threats, honking, indecent exposure, and stalking, predominantly by men towards women in public places. Instead of constantly hushing the problem by personal preventive measures such as avoiding to walk alone in isolated places or staying silent when faced with street harassment, it should be the government’s problem to protect its women and girls by enacting legislation to criminalise such behaviours, for the police to play an active role in its enforcement, and for society to teach respect towards women.
Presently, what can be done if a woman endures street harassment? There are various interesting sections in our Criminal Code that can provide protection to some extent but they do not provide real coverage. For example, s254 deals with sexual harassment but only regarding a person abusing authority conferred upon him. There is the s226 ‘Threatening verbally’ which can be used if the threat is accompanied by an order or condition, for example, ordering to give a phone number else will be met with physical violence. s291 ‘Criminal Intimidation’ also can cover to some extent as it is threatening another with making any disclosure or imputation. Lastly, there is resort to s296 ‘Insult’ which is regarding injurious expression or other abusive language. However, those pieces of legislation are not well suited to street harassment as they do not cover all its forms. We need an umbrella legislation specifically for street harassment. After all, as of date, women comprise 51% of the population and it is our due to have laws that can adequately protect us.
Whilst many countries provide legal protection for harassment, some have boldly enacted legislation specifically for street harassment. France implemented it in 2018, with its gender equality minister Schiappa introducing laws that criminalises catcalling and sexist comments on streets and public transportation. In 2014, Belgium made it a crime to make intimidating sexual remarks in public after the video of Sophie Peeters being sexually harassed in the streets of Brussels emerged. There is also Portugal which in 2015 has criminalised sexual proposal on the streets, and in the same year, following the tantamount reports of street harassments, Peru hardened sentences for harassment in public. In 2016, Philippines made catcalling illegal and in 2019 through its Safe Spaces Act, also extended offences to include sexist comments and intrusive gazing. As for England, it introduced a specific bill for harassment in public because of the victim’s sex, following the murder of Sarah Everard. Most recently it was the Netherlands in 2024 that added it through its Sexual Offences Act. It is clear that the law changes in response to incidents and reports. Therefore it sadly begs the question: how many more victims there need to be, how many more reports, or even how many assaults and deaths should arise before the government finally sees it fitting to introduce laws to protect us?
Notwithstanding the fact that street harassment occurs both during the day and at night, the danger at night is irrefutable. There are so many informal rules that we follow to keep us safe, one of which is to avoid walking alone at night. Street harassment therefore significantly impedes on our freedom of movement as per Art 15 of our Constitution. Amongst the debates to make streets safer for women, some have come across an interesting idea, one that would make many people outraged: a curfew at night for men. As once stated by ex Prime Minister Golda Meir, “Once in a Cabinet we had to deal with the fact that there had been an outbreak of assaults on women at night. One minister suggested a curfew; women should stay home after dark. I said, ‘But it’s the men who are attacking the women. If there’s to be a curfew, let the men stay home, not the women.’” In the same vein Baroness Jenny Jones told the House of Lords: “I would argue that at the next opportunity for a bill that is appropriate, I might actually put in an amendment to create a curfew for men on the streets after 6pm, which I feel will make women much safer…” It was obviously not implemented as a curfew will be counterproductive and impractical. However, the idea of regulating and restricting the perpetrator’s freedoms instead of the victim’s, is interesting.
Though legislations and sanctions are powerful deterrents to unacceptable behaviours, they are not sufficient to eradicate social problems. Awareness along with education have a significant impact on the way we perceive, analyse, and judge a problem. Street harassment and other sexual violence experienced by women have not only been undermined but also accompanied with victim shaming relating to clothes, alcohol, or location. Comments like ‘what was she wearing’, ‘she was asking for it’, ‘she should not have been drinking’ are often made when women have been victims of sexual violence. Victim shaming only shifts the focus and blame from the perpetrator to the woman, in all unfairness and bitterness. The government needs to effectuate awareness campaigns and parents need to educate their sons to respect girls and women. Additionally, men need to discourage this behaviour in other men when they see them harassing women.
Throughout history, laws have mostly been written by men, taking into account what they find unacceptable social behaviours. Fortunately, women nowadays are stating loud and clear what they find inadmissible towards their well being and dignity. Governments are gradually acknowledging this in implementing laws to target those who cause sexual violence against women. In Mauritius, we are witnessing a drastic increase in violence perpetrated against women. Though there is no data on street harassment here, almost every woman has at least a story of being catcalled/whistled at/leered at/followed/flashed/faced with sexual comments, and those who walk or use public transportation are prone to such distressing incidents. It is therefore incumbent to criminalise street harassment to not only make the streets and public places safer for women but also to hold the perpetrators accountable. The fight against gender-based violence is a continuous one, and as Siobhan Blake from the Crown Prosecution Service blatantly puts it ‘’Everyone has the right to travel on public transport, dance at a festival or walk the streets without fear of harassment. Feeling safe should not be a luxury for women’’.
