UK: Street harassment of females likely to be crime as government issues new proposals

In a remarkable development for women's safety in the UK, the country's interior ministry has said that it was considering making street harassment of females a crime. In a comment piece published by The Times, Home Secretary Priti Patel asserted that malicious actions such as wolf-whistling, which is labelled as harassment, could become a specific punishable crime. Her comments came as she was set to unveil a proposal on ways to support women reporting public sexual harassment and crackdown on male violence. 

In her comment piece, Patel asserted that the government was taking action on street harassment and would 'continue to look at gaps in existing law and how an offense for sexual harassment could address those'. Furthermore, she said that she was committed to ensuring not only the presence of such laws but also their implementation. According to Patel, women and girls should be 'confident that their concerns will be taken seriously'.

Downing Sreet has stricken its stance upon the issue of crime against women following the rape and subsequent murder of 33-year-old Marketing Executive Sarah Everard. Everard went missing on March 3 and her body was then discovered a week later, causing nationwide outrage. Later, during a court hearing for the same, a London Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens confessed to killing her after kidnapping and raping her. 

What are the new proposals?

The government's proposals include the creation of a new national policing lead to tackle male violence against women as well as the appointment of two officials in charge of preventing violence against women and girls on public transport. Additionally, the strategy also calls for the criminalization of so-called virginity testing, which Patel called a "barbaric practice". While it marks a great step for the country, rights groups have said it wasn’t enough. 

"Crimes such as rape, female genital mutilation, stalking, harassment, and digital crimes such as cyber-flashing, ‘revenge porn’ and ‘up-skirting’ are taking place every day. We often say these things have no place in our society. It would be more accurate to say that they should have no place, because they are still all too prevalent. They illustrate appalling, often outdated, attitudes and prejudice towards women and girls,' Patel said in a statment. 

 

Image: AP