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[av_heading heading=’Hontiveros files bill vs catcallers, harassment’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Saturday, February 18, 2017
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MANILA – No, catcalls are not compliments.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1326, or the “Safe Streets and Public Spaces Act of 2017 seeking to penalize street-level harassment such as catcalling, wolf-whistling, cursing, leering, and groping, among others.
SBN 1326 also penalizes persistent request for name and contact details and the use of words tending to ridicule on the basis of actual or perceived sex, gender expression, or sexual orientation and identity.
“This phenomenon hampers freedom of movement. Evidence compiled by the United Nations Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Program demonstrate indubitably harassment in public spaces reduces the ability to participate in school, work and public life, and access to essential services and their enjoyment of cultural and recreational opportunities,” Hontiveros said.
In filing her measure, the lady senator from Panay Island cited a Social Weather Stations (SWS) report that said 88 percent of Filipino women aged 18 to 24 years old have been harassed in the streets.
Close to 60 percent of the reported wolf-whistling, catcalling and other forms of sexual harassment happened on the streets, public vehicles, public washrooms, schools, and workplaces, SWS said.
Hontiveros was pushing for the passage of the bill because “there are no clear-cut laws that specifically address this malaise.”
She lamented that the Revised Penal Code on unjust vexation does not cover gender-based, misogynistic and homophobic public spaces harassment. Provisions on sexual harassment, on one hand, only cover harassment in the workplace between a superior and subordinate.
“It is deplorable that our women, young and adult, are subjected to this kind of abuse. One may think it is a compliment to catcall, or to leer, but such unwanted comments, gestures and actions forced on a person in a public space is actually sexist and offensive,” Hontiveros said.
SBN 1326 penalizes gender-based street and public spaces harassment with a fine amounting from P1,000 to P10,000 and prison terms depending on the underlying offense./PN
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