NEARLY ALL young women in the UK have been sexually harassed and have modified their behaviour to avoid being attacked, a study has found.
Among women aged 18 to 24, 97 per cent said they had been sexually harassed, while 80 per cent of women of all ages said they had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces.
Follow our live blog for the latest developments on the case of missing Sarah Everard
The survey conducted by UN Women UK unveils the shocking number of women who feel unsafe in public spaces.
Claire Barnett, executive director of UN Women UK, said: “This is a human rights crisis.
“It’s just not enough for us to keep saying ‘this is too difficult a problem for us to solve’ – it needs addressing now.
“We are looking at a situation where younger women are constantly modifying their behaviour in an attempt to avoid being objectified or attacked.
“And older women are reporting serious concerns about personal safety if they ever leave the house in the dark – even during the daytime in winter.”
And a YouGov survey of more than 1,000 women also revealed that there is a serious lack of faith in authority to deal with sexual harrassment claims.
A staggering 96 per cent of respondents did not report incidents, with 45 per cent saying it would not change anything, revealed the Guardian.
As part of the Safe Spaces Now project, the organisation collected personal stories from 400 women and sent an open letter to leaders.
They’ve called for better designed public spaces, improved reporting systems and education.
Ms Barnett added: “We’ve seen really strong results elsewhere in the world.
“Our problem now is that sometimes in the UK, we think we are a leading light in terms of progress, and we forget to work on the gender-based violence that still happens every day at home, especially to women and marginalised groups.”
Laura Bates, the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, said that it was unsurprising that women have no faith in the “utterly broken” system.
She added: “At the root of all this is the normalisation of the idea that a woman’s body in a public place is simply public property and young women just have to put up with it.
“We have to shatter that normalisation through policy and in the press if we want to change the picture.”
This comes as breakthroughs are being made in the murder case of Sarah Everard.
Sarah had been walking from a friend’s house on Wednesday last week – heading back to her Brixton home.
However, she vanished that night – with police launching a desperate hunt for the 33-year-old.
A police officer was arrested in connection to the case, and the Metropolitan Police has made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
In the wake of the tragic disappearance, women have voiced their concerns online about their safety on the streets.
Hundreds have spoken about their own fearful personal experience when walking alone at night, as well as the behaviour they change in order to keep themselves safe.
