Hollaback website for West Yorkshire to tackle street harassment
Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor
A new website has been launched in West Yorkshire in northern England aimed at tackling harassment of women on the region’s streets.
www.wy.ihollaback.org has been launched by Emma Romanowicz and Louise Westbrooke to provide a forum for women to talk about street harassment in Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and surrounding areas.
The idea is that women can use the internet, iphones and smartphones to respond to street harassment – any street harassment, ranging from unwanted attention, sexualised comments, through to touching, following, or more serious offences.
Romanowicz said that no specific research exists into the prevalence of street harassment in the UK: “But USA statistics, our own experiences and that of friends suggests that between 90-100 per cent of girls and women experience it at some point, some on a daily basis”
As well as the new website, women in West Yorkshire who experience street harassment can communicate on a facebook page and supporters have been following progress on Twitter @hollabackWY in the lead up to the launch.
The Hollaback! movement started as a blog in New York and now provides a resource for women across the United States and Europe, in Argentina, New Zealand and India. In England there are already sites operating in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Manchester.
This latest Hollaback! site has been welcomed by a number of agencies in West Yorkshire including Leeds Domestic Violence Agency.
Michelle De Souza, Leeds City Council Domestic Violence Team Manager, said: “Street harassment towards women has been largely minimised and ignored in the past so we particularly welcome an initiative which tackles the issue head on.”
“It’s refreshing to see how the ‘explosion of mobile technology’ is being used to raise awareness of and address gender-based violence. Streets should be a place where we all feel safe.”
Street harassment is one of the most pervasive issues for women and one of the least legislated against in the UK.
It is time to change this.
Hollaback! West Yorkshire can be contacted by email wy@ihollaback.org, through facebook, on Twitter or directly on the website via an online form.