Half of women in Rotterdam still experience sexual harassment on the street

Nearly half of women in Rotterdam still experience sexual intimidation and harassment from men on the streets, new research from Erasmus University in Rotterdam determined. Despite attempts to take legal measures and public campaigns to make sneering sexual harassment on the street punishable, it has not decreased in five years when the data was last collected, ANP reported

The percentage of women who said they had to deal with this form of harassment on the street was 47%, virtually the same as in 2016. Training police and security workers did lead to some positive changes, the researchers found. "But at the same time, many women still prefer not to go out on the street at night, or they feel pressured to dress differently," the report said.

The researchers also found that awareness about this matter has increased due to a number of campaigns that were launched by the authorities to address this issue. An example of such a movement was the 'pikpraat van de straat' campaign which was launched by the municipality of Rotterdam in 2017. During the campaign, a special app called StopApp was launched by the municipality which allowed women to anonymously report harassment in the streets.

The popularity of the #MeToo social movement, where people publicize allegations of sex crimes, was also viewed as a positive contributor to the rising awareness of sex-related crimes. The women who participated in the study also commonly indicated that more attention should be paid to this issue in the education of young people.

The Erasmus University research is carried out on behalf of the municipality of Rotterdam.