Street harassment meet the young people creating change for girls

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Street harassment meet the young people creating change for girls

Street harassment: meet the young people creating change for girls

Across the UK, youth advocates have been taking your petition signatures to key decision makers

Earlier this year, thanks to your incredible support, we celebrated a huge success with our #ISayItsNotOK campaign, when the Home Office recognised street harassment as a form of gender-based violence.

At a national level, this was an amazing policy win – but we knew we had more to do.

We had to translate this UK-wide change into real change for girls. So we took the campaign to the next level: asking devolved national governments and local authorities across the country to recognise and address street harassment too.

As with all our campaigns, it was a group of youth advocates who led the way. They ran simultaneous campaigns in the three areas where we focused our attention – Wales, the West Midlands and the North West – and asked for your support in demanding change.

In Wales….

Trin and Maisie presented your signatures to Deputy Minister Jane Hutt at the Senedd and attended a high-level roundtable meeting, where they talked about their experiences of street harassment. The Deputy Minister told them the Welsh Government is determined to turn the tide, so that street harassment is no longer accepted.

In the North West…

Atlanta and Lauren presented their petition to Deputy Mayor Bev Hughes and told her about their experiences of street harassment. She told them that she and the Mayor are committed to tackling all forms of gender-based violence.

In the West Midlands…

Isabelle presented her petition to the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, and Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner Lynette Kelly, and spoke to them about her experiences of street harassment. As a result, Isabelle and Plan International UK have been invited to present ways we can work together to tackle street harassment in the area, at a key Police Strategic Crime Board meeting.

Keeping up the pressure

We still have a lot more to do to end the verbal and physical harassment girls in the UK are facing every day. We’ll be keeping up the pressure to make change happen – but today, we want to thank the thousands of you who added your names to the campaign and to celebrate these amazing youth advocates, who successfully got key decision makers to hear their voices.