Written submission from the Fawcett Society (SPP0074)

About us

1. We are the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights. Our vision is a society in which women and girls in all their diversity are equal and truly free to fulfil their potential; creating a stronger, happier, better future for us all.

2. We publish compelling research to educate, inform and lead the debate; we bring together politicians, academics, grassroots activists and wider civil society to develop innovative, practical solutions; we work with employers and in schools and we campaign with women and men to make change happen.

3. We have recently conducted research on the experiences of young women, including of harassment; research into men and women’s attitudes towards gender equality; research into the experiences of women being harassed or abused online; the response of social media platforms to this harassment or abuse; and on women in local government. We believe evidence from this research will be of value to the Committee in answering their review questions.

4. In the following, we show that a) the majority of women of all ages experience sexual harassment in their lifetime, b) that online harassment is an important form of public sexual harassment, which is being inadequately dealt with by social media platforms, c) a significant minority of the population hold hostile attitudes towards gender inequality, including ‘victim blaming’ in cases of sexual harassment and assault, and d) that one of the damaging consequences of harassment is discouraging women to stand for elected office.

5. It is therefore essential that we tackle violence against women and girls at its root through effective relationships and sex education, challenging the damaging gender norms and stereotypes which legitimise sexual harassment. We must also send the strong message that sexual harassment is never justified, via a cultural change, of which making misogyny a hate crime is part and the online sphere must also be subject to protections against sexual harassment as part of the public sphere.

The incidence of sexual harassment in public places

6. Over Spring/Summer 2016, the Fawcett Society carried out qualitative focus groups and interviews with a diverse group of 72 young women and men aged 18 to 25, publishing the findings in 2017 in our report ‘Sounds Familiar?’[1] The report sets out what young women told us about the challenges they face, including sexual harassment and blame and lad culture, and provides new insights into the underlying attitudes which can be found in our society which may explain why progress on gender equality is so slow.

7. Of the 42 who participated in focus groups, 93% identified as women (39) and 7% identified as men (3). This group included 45% who identified as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic, 15% who identified as Muslim, 12% who identified as gay or bisexual, and 32% who identified as disabled or experiencing mental ill health. We asked these young people about the particular challenges faced by young women within society. We believe this research speaks to the aim of the Committee in assessing how age, ethnicity, sexuality, and other characteristics affect women’s experiences.

8. Sexual harassment and lad culture came up in every workshop with the majority of participants having experienced harassment or intimidation. Participants spoke about harassment as “everyday”, with the most frequently cited experiences being examples of unwanted sexual advances in public situations, such as in bars or parks, at school, or at work. Participants said if they did not manage the situation they knew saying “no” would not work and would lead to them being called a “slag” or “bitch” or could escalate into violence. One participant said “I’m sick of dealing with harassment and having to make up excuses like ‘I’ve got a boyfriend’ or ‘I’m married’ to get them to leave you alone. Why doesn’t anyone say anything when it’s in public?”

9. Additionally, polling conducting by YouGov on behalf of the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition showed that 64% of women of all ages have experienced unwanted sexual harassment in public.[2] It is therefore clear that the majority of women are subject to this misogynistic behaviour, and it is imperative we take action which is long overdue.

Sexual harassment in schools

10. We recognise that the Committee has separately published a report on sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools. However, we think it important to acknowledge that the school setting is indeed public, making it an important public arena in which sexual harassment is committed. For example, one third of women have experienced sexual assault on campus,[3] 39% of girls and young women aged 11-21 have either seen or had their bra straps pulled by boys in the last week (when surveyed), and 27% had seen or had their skirts pulled up by boys at school.[4]

11. The extent to which sexual harassment and sexual violence are tolerated or ignored in school sets a dangerous precedent for their prevalence in public once children grow up, as well as the damage it causes directly to victims. That is why Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) which foregrounds consent and discussions of VAWG is vital, and must be part of the forthcoming Department for Education guidelines.

12. Additionally, Muslim women are being disproportionately targeted with abuse and violence in school, with one in 10 hate crime incidents reported to Tell MAMA taking place in educational establishments.[5]

Online harassment

13. Harassment and abuse in public places is no longer solely committed offline. According to Girlguiding UK, 49% of girls and young women aged 11-21 say fear of abuse online makes them feel less able to share their views.[6] Fawcett conducted an open-access survey online, with support from Reclaim the Internet (a cross-party campaign founded by Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP).[7]

14. Our respondents saw the most abuse on Facebook or Twitter. 66% of Twitter users reported experiencing abuse or harassment, almost all of them from a stranger or both strangers and people they know in real life. 64% reported abuse or harassment on Facebook, where women who answered the survey were more likely to have experienced abuse from people they know (39% of Facebook users). Abuse on other platforms was rarer.

15. On Facebook and Twitter, sexist messages were the most common type of harassment or abuse experienced, with 64% of those experiencing abuse on Facebook and 70% of those receiving abuse on Twitter saying that was the type they had seen. Around a third of women had experienced each of politically extremist hate messages, unwanted sexual messages or images (which are a form of sexual harassment), stalking and threats of violence. Twitter users had experienced people organising abuse against them in similar proportions.

16. Half of Facebook users who experienced abuse said they did not report it to the platform, and nor did 43% of Twitter users. When they did, few reported the platform taking action. 44% of women who used Facebook who had experienced abuse reported it, but saw no action taken, and only 3% said their concerns were acted on. Slightly more women said Twitter took action based on their reports (9%), but 44% said they reported it and no action was taken.

17. Few of the women who had experienced abuse on social media had reported it to the police: only 3% of Facebook users and 10% of Twitter users had done so. 4% of Twitter users said the police had taken some action following their reports, although this represents only 3 cases.

18. Subsequent to the research outlined above, we conducted further work to look at how Twitter as a platform responds to abuse. This work found that Twitter is doing too little, too slowly to combat online abuse.

19. For this work, numerous examples of abuse, threats, and hate speech on the platform were identified and reported early in the week of the 14th August – by the morning of 21st August they were still up on the platform and no action had been taken against the users who submitted them. The examples were subsequently deleted after the media release of these findings.

Blame Culture and attitudes to gender equality

20. The prevalence of sexual harassment is in part due to persistent attitudes of blame towards women amongst a large minority in society, placing the responsibility with victims/survivors rather than the perpetrator. Data from a representative nationwide survey of over 8,000 individuals reported in ’Sounds Familiar?’ asked respondents “if a women goes out late at night, wearing a short skirt, gets drunk, and is then the victim of a sexual assault, is she totally or partly to blame?”[8] 38% of all men and 34% of all women said that she is.

21. Older women (aged over 65) were particularly likely to blame her, with 55% of women aged over 65 saying she is totally (5%) or partly (50%) to blame compared to 48% of older men. 30% of women aged 18-34 and 40% of young men agree. 14% of men aged 18-34 say she is ”totally to blame”.

22. This is not the majority view, with 70% of young women and 59% of young men saying a woman in that situation is “never to blame”. But the view that women are partly or totally to blame if they are sexually assaulted is held by a large and stubborn minority in society, it is not changing fast between generations, and it feeds the hostility and legitimises the harassment that young women in particular face.

23. These findings suggest that younger generations of men are polarised. The majority want equality for women and recognise the need for change, and are more likely than older men to hold progressive views. However, a significant minority are hostile to the idea of change. It shows us where young men can be allies for change, but also why we must address the underlying causes of sexism, discrimination and harassment.

The impact of harassment on women’s representation in politics/the public sphere

24. Women’s representation in Parliament has stalled at 32%, increasing by only 2 percentage points between the 2017 and 2015 general elections. Women’s representation in local government has flat-lined, having increased from 28% in 1997 to just 33% in 2017.

25. Research conducted by Fawcett’s Local Government Commission, in partnership with the Local Government Information Unit looked into the extent and reasons for women’s underrepresentation on local councils. We found that abuse and harassment, including on social media, impacts on women’s decisions to run for local office.[9]

26. All people who run for elected office face scrutiny form their electorate and the media, and the demands of a higher public profile. For many women who do so, however, that scrutiny is compounded by misogyny, and comes with an additional and founded fear of violence. Our survey data found that when standing as a councillor, there is a gender difference between councillors identifying “fear of violence” (13% of women; 8% of men), or “harassment or abuse from the electorate” (46% of women; 35% of men) as barriers to engagement.

27. This finding was echoed throughout our evidence session and consultation sessions. A number of women pointed to constant abuse on social media as a key factor in preventing women from running for selection or election – especially when threats were directed at family members. At our evidence session in Wales a key concern raised was around the lack of support that women candidates in particular receive, as the abuse often begins when they first run for office.

28. The Commission recommended that local police and councils need to work with all future council candidates to ensure that the full force of the law is brought to bear when candidates are targeted with illegal abuse or harassment.

Recommendations

29. We make a number of recommendations to tackle the problem of sexual harassment in public places, which are divided according to topic below.

Relationships and sex education (RSE)

30. Good quality RSE is essential in tackling harassment in all spheres of life, including in public places. There must be dedicated time in the curriculum and high quality teacher training.

31. RSE must include teaching on gender stereotypes, such as boys as tough and non-emotional, girls as submissive and quiet, and norms against cross-gender friendships. Airing and deconstructing those stereotypes, alongside those connected with intersecting identities such as race/ethnicity, sexuality, disability, trans- and others, is vital in providing a grounding for the rest of the curriculum.

32. We would specifically want to see objectification broached, to open up discussion around how society and the media portray women as lacking in agency. We would also want to see discussion of how gender stereotypes are used to justify violence against women and girls (VAWG), as well as violence committed on the basis of other identities. We would want to include a discussion of VAWG, including DV, rape and sexual abuse, the impact they have, and how they are sometimes justified/victim blaming. It should make clear the impact of ‘lad culture’ and how everyday harassment creates an environment in which more severe forms of VAWG are normalised or enabled. It is vital that young people are taught that actions online including abuse and the use of sexist language have an impact just as they do offline, both in terms of impact on victims and in terms of legal ramifications.

33. To counter those narratives, we would want the curriculum to comprehensively cover sexual and reproductive rights, including a positive discussion of pleasure.

34. Sexual consent must be addressed within the curriculum, in the context of what healthy relationships look like, and ideally with a positive focus on an ongoing process of consent – simply teaching ‘no means no’ is not good enough.

35. Fawcett would also welcome compulsory PSHE, if introduced as part of a whole-school approach alongside RSE, and as long as it would not diminish RSE as a timetabled and distinct curriculum.

36. We would want PSHE to include the combatting of gender stereotyping. Within RSE, this is likely to focus more closely on intimate personal relationships, but within a PHSE curriculum the discussion could be expanded to include the world of paid work, unequal caring duties in the home and beyond, gender and leadership in politics and elsewhere, economic inequality, sexual harassment, and the intersection of gender and other identities. Fawcett’s ‘Sounds Familiar?’[10] report found that young women feel disappointed that their education has been gender blind, and that more discussion of present discrimination and inequality, rather than a discussion that only focusses on history, is needed. We would also like to see a gendered lens used across the board.

37. We believe that schools should have flexibility within PHSE lessons to respond to live local issues, and to reflect concerns of the community in which they are set (e.g. a particular race-informed approach in communities with a high proportion of BAME people; or teaching which reflects specific issues around autonomy and VAWG that might impact SEND children within certain settings).

38. However, neither school status, faith status, or a particular local ethnic or cultural makeup should be at all permitted to lead to incorrect or limited teaching of key issues such as women’s equality, VAWG, or LGBT+ issues. All young people deserve to understand their rights, be taught a clear view on consent, and be supported to question and discuss gender stereotypes, regardless of any religious or cultural context.

39. If presentation of a particular religious perspective alongside both objective fact and the gender stereotype lens that we propose is seen as necessary in order to reflect the lived reality of children within certain schools or communities, we believe that it is also important to ensure that variation within those religious perspectives is portrayed – e.g. that there are people who live as observant Muslims alongside gay or feminist perspectives, or that there are Christians with differing views on pro-life issues and women’s equality.

Gendered bullying and sexual harassment in schools

40. It is essential that gendered bullying and sexual harassment in schools is recorded and effectively tackled. This should be treated as a safeguarding issue and policies and procedures for addressing these issues must be developed.

41. Young women should not be or feel left alone to deal with gendered bullying and sexual harassment when it happens in an educational setting, feeling the responsibility lies with them.

Misogyny as a hate crime

42. Fawcett believes that making misogyny a hate crime is an important part of effecting a culture change about how society and the criminal justice system views sexual harassment and misogyny, and there are already examples of best practice from various police forces.

43. The law currently treats hate crimes relating to different protected characteristics differently. Crimes motivated by misogyny are not currently statutorily regarded as hate crimes.

44. Hate crime against women and girls is a cause and consequence of gender inequality and should be treated as unlawful. It is important that the hate crime in question is misogyny hate crime, not gender hate crime, recognising the direction of the power imbalance within society. This would be consistent with the one-directional nature of transgender or disability hate crime.

45. Some police forces, including Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire, have already begun recording misogyny hate crime and hate incidents. All police forces should be required to recognise misogyny as a hate crime for recording purposes – and police computer systems should be developed to ensure that they are able to record intersectional experiences of hate crime, which they are currently unable to do.

46. But this alone is not sufficient. Enhanced sentencing for offences motivated by hostility towards people based on other protected characteristics recognises that those offences are especially harmful to individuals and society. This is certainly the case for misogyny, and so it should be introduced as a hate crime for enhanced sentencing purposes, and included in decisions about the wider hate crime framework.

47. Additionally, often, due to the structure of computer systems, officers must choose to flag a single identify towards which hostility is perceived. This means that hate crime against LGBT women, Muslim women, or trans women is not accurately reported. Hate crime recording systems must therefore be reviewed to ensure they can capture intersectional experiences of hate crime.[11]

48. Making misogyny a hate crime is not the only solution to tackle sexual harassment in public places or the prevalence of VAWG. It is crucial that VAWG services are given more sustainable funding; that the social causes of VAWG are tackled; and that VAWG crimes are investigated and prosecuted properly by the police and CPS. It is also crucial that, just as with Relationship and Sex Education, there has to be considerable emphasis on the way it is implemented. In order to be effective, any attempt to introduce misogyny hate crime must be done in a way that enhances the legislative framework and the reporting of VAWG crimes. We believe that tackling misogyny will address one of the underlying causes of violence against women and girls.

Social media platforms

49. Given the incidence of sexual harassment and abuse on social media platforms, they must take action.

50. Some such actions could include installing a panic button for users experiencing abuse from a number of accounts (a measure supported by 85% of respondents to the Reclaim the Internet survey) and banning people from setting up new accounts who have been banned in the past (supported by 80% of respondents).

51. The efficacy of automated or algorithmic moderators has been questioned, so increasing the number of human moderators should also be explored. Training that reflects the intersectional identities of the people being moderated should also be explored.

March 2018