Plans to make street harassment – like catcalling and intrusive staring – a crime facing "pushback"
With a survey released earlier this year finding that two thirds of women don't feel safe walking alone at night, and in light of the tragic murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa (amongst many others), news that the government had brought in an independent adviser to tackle violence against women and girls seemed like a step in the right direction. But Nimco Ali, who has been pushing for street harassment – including wolf-whistling, intrusive staring and strangers telling women "to smile" – to be made a crime, says she's received "pushback" from those in power.
Speaking on the BBC's Political Thinking podcast, Ali (who was appointed by Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2020, and who is friends with Boris and Carrie Johnson) hinted that the PM did not support her plans to implement on-the-spot fines for street harassment offenders. According to Ali, Home Secretary Patel is "very much behind" her campaign, although she's encountered many "other people saying no".
"It's been frustrating and it's been disappointing," she added, alleging that she's faced "pushback" from various government departments. When asked by the podcast's host if this "pushback" had come from Johnson's advisers, she said that the source had been "a lot closer than that".
Emphasising the importance of her campaign, Ali said that by failing to make street harassment a crime, "we are actually corroding society and we are allowing young women to be subjected to lived experiences which are going to have a massive detriment to their health on a day-to-day basis".
As for whether the government's "energy" to stop violence against women and girls had "dissipated", she said: "No, it hasn't gone. Just because it's not in the mainstream media at the moment, it doesn't mean that the Home Secretary and also the minister for women's safety, Rachel Maclean, are not committed to this."
In response, a government spokesperson told the BBC that tackling violence against women and girls is still one of its "top priorities".
The spokesperson went on: "Since July [when a strategy was drawn up by Patel and Ali to tackle violence against women and girls] we have delivered on our commitments, including the first ever national police lead for violence against women and girls, implementing the landmark Domestic Abuse Act and the pilot Safety of Women at Night Fund, along with a further £25m for Safer Streets projects."
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