Street harassment is set to become illegal and punishable with jail time

Jennifer Savin
·2 min read
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young woman looking upset by a stranger grabbing her shoulder in the street
Catcalling is set to become illegal in the UKIakov Filimonov (JackF) - Getty Images

A new law that will state firmly, once and for all, that street harassment (such as catcalling, blocking someone's path or following them) is a crime is about to make its way through the House of Lords – and so far, there's been no pushback against it. Meaning? In plain terms: catcalling and other similar street-based harassment is set to be illegal in the (hopefully) near future and punishable by up to two years in jail.

Sexual harassment is already a crime, but this new legislation hopes to make clearer that behaviours sometimes viewed as 'less serious' are still very much not okay. It all comes as part of the Met Police and the government's much publicised promises to crackdown on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) once and for all.

Last year, a YouGov survey revealed that two-thirds of women felt unsafe walking alone at night, at least some of the time.

Greg Clark, the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells – who put the notion forward via a Private Member's Bill – told press it's "astonishing" that this was not already a crime and explained the bill would "reinforce a change in the culture".

"This closes a loophole in the law, as it has never has been a specific criminal offence to harass and intimidate intentionally a woman or a girl in public," he said, as per the BBC.

"Because it is not a specific crime, too many woman and girls think there is no point in reporting it to the police. This is something we don't tolerate for racial harassment or harassment on the grounds of sexuality."

However, it's important to note that Clark is far from the only person who has called for these specific changes around public sexual harassment, various campaign groups, women's charities and political advisor Nimco Ali – who last May spoke on the BBC's Political Thinking podcast and hinted that the then-PM, Boris Johnson, did not support her idea to implement on-the-spot fines for street harassment offenders. According to Ali, whilst the then-Home Secretary, Priti Patel, was "very much behind" her campaign, she sadly encountered many "other people saying no" in government.

Here's hoping the bill passes quickly and we start reaping some positive change from it very soon.

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