UNWOMEN Report .3

Survey in the City of Sulaimani: Perceptions of Levels of Harassment of Women FINAL REPORT

id:rc and AUIS Page 22

3.3 Survey Tool Design

Based on the feedback received during the FG sessions, and the literature that was reviewed on the subject, a survey tool was developed that addresses the following.

Demographic Information: to enable the team to conduct comparisons based on age group, educa-tional levels, employment, and marital status.

• Where do you live?

• What is your Age?

• What is the highest level of education you have completed?

• What is your Occupation?

• What is your marital status?

Knowledge and Understanding of the Meaning of Harassment and Exposure to It: to understand the extent to which respondents have been harassed, and to understand where and how it happens the most.

• Exposure to harassment in the past year

• Location of harassment

• What kind(s) of harassment faced

• Time(s) of the day mostly faced

• 3 most places were usually harassment occurred?

Forms of Harassment, Frequency, Places, and Countermeasures: to better understand what are the most common types of it, how it impacts and restricts victims, how victim react and how they per-ceive it, and what countermeasures could be implemented by the Government to make the city safer.

• Age when first exposed to it

• Frequency of street harassment experiences

• Restriction of movement due to street harassment

• Perceptions on whether the female is the cause for harassment? And reasons

• Who are the offenders and what are their characteristics

• How harassment makes victims feel

• Whether victims react, why/why not, and how

• Reaction of by-standers, if any

• Awareness of laws

• Precautionary measures to ensure their safety

• What should the government do to prevent and respond to street harassment?

• What should the government do for men to stop street harassment on the streets

A copy of the final survey tool both in English and in Kurdish is included in the Appendix.

Survey in Sulaimani: Perceptions of Levels of Harassment of Women FINAL REPORT


3.4 Sample Size and Locations of Data Collection

For the purposes of this survey, the sample unit (i.e., the entity that represents one data point) was taken as a female resident of Sulaimani above the age of 15 years. With this in mind, the population (sample frame) was taken as the total number of females in Sulaimani that meet this age criterion.

The Study Sample Size was defined as the minimum required number of sampling units that are needed to build sound statistical conclusions and inferences about the issues to be assessed in this study. Two important criteria for such determination are the level of significance (which was taken at 95%) and the confidence interval (which was taken at 5%). The minimum sample size required to draw inferences on the households was calculated using the following formulae:

2

2

cp)x(p)x(1ZSS −

=

Where:

SS = sample size;

Z = Z-value (e.g. 1.96 for 95% confidence level);

p = percentage picking a choice, expressed as decimal (0.5 used for sample sizing purposes); and

c = confidence interval, expressed as decimal (e.g., 0.05 = ±5);

The sample size was further corrected to account for the Finite Population using the following formu-la:

Population1SS1

SSSSNew −

+=

To apply the above formula, the above data were used based on information from the Department of Statistics:

Overall population of the city = 1,600,000 inhabitants

Male to female ratio1 = ~1:1

Ratio of population above 15 years old = 60%

Target population = 480,000

Applying the above formulae to the female population of the city of Sulaimani resulted in a minimum required sample size of 385 respondents. Based on the feedback received during the FG sessions and other discussions with UNWomen, the following sites were used for the conduct of interviews:

Study locations as per feedback from FG Additional Proposed Locations

Salim Street Bakhtari Street Sarjinar Street A’qari Street Comaniah Nozad Area Bar Mahkama area Tuimaleek Street Azidi Park Kani Korda Bazar

Mawlawi and the surrounding streets Near Mzgawty Gawra Asihaba Spi Zher Prdaka Sar Prdaka near Daboka in mawlawi Street



3.5 Training of Data Enumeration Team

Once the survey tool was finalized, and the sample size and data collection location determined, the study team conducted a training activity for the data enumerators. This was done to ensure a thor-ough understanding of the purpose of the survey as well as the details of the questionnaire. The enumeration teams underwent full training to familiarize them with the elements of the survey tool and the specific questionnaires, in order to guarantee the integrity and the quality of the data.

The training was govenered by a Survey Guide, which is included in the Appendix, and the enumera-tion teams’ training consisted of three phases as follows:

a) The first phase was the “Survey Tool Training”; where the team management spent half a day to discuss the objectives of the survey and the tool proposed. In this phase, the goal was to get all data enumerators comfortable with the survey tool.

b) The second phase of training, was the “Data Collection Platform Training” to introduce the Mag-Pi application. In the training, we guided teams through the application where they got to use the mobile device themselves. We conducted live training on the devices during mock interviews.

c) The third phase addressed exercises on the survey tool, communication skills and how they should deal with respondents when they approach them, introducing themselves, how to comfort respondents to trigger participation, and how to deal with awkward situations.

Structuring the training as described above ensured that enumerators would be comfortable with the survey tool before being introduced to the medium of data capture. This focused the second phase on one goal, to master the operation of the mobile application. The following are the main guidelines that were followed in the training:

a) Training was conducted in an organized space at the AUIS campus.

b) Training examples were distributed prior to the training.

c) Copies of the survey tool were made for all participants.

d) The entire group read through the survey tool together, out loud, from beginning to end and the trainer explained the purpose of each and every question, what it is meant to measure, and the possible responses as per the survey tool.

e) The trainer explained how questions are to be asked. They were instructed and taught to be impartial; she must ask the question without passing judgment. The enumerator must not make interpretation of the answer; just obtain a straight answer.

f) In-class and field exercises was administered such as:

i. Everyone did a single survey together: one person was nominated to be the subject of the interview. Each participant took a question in turn.

ii. Enumerators paired up in groups of two, so they can interview each other.

iii. Field exercise where the team duplicated all the conditions of the real field survey, but in an area that doesn't fit in the sampling. Enumerators were asked to follow the sampling selection process, go out on their own, choose people to interview, and complete several interviews.

iv. After this exercise, everyone was asked to share his/her experience in class together.



Explaining the interviwer guide to the enumerators (held at the AUIS under UNWomen supervision)

Guiding the enumerators through the survery tool in both laguages (Kurdish and English)



3.6 Pre-Testing

With the survey tool and sampling method finalized. The id:rc team conducted pre-tests of the sur-vey tool to finalize the survey tool, and the data management system. This was done through testing it on a small number of respodents to check for problems in the questionnaire design that do not be-come apparent until the questionnaire is actually tried.

In general, the field-testing of the questionnaire was divided into two stages. The first stage (pre-testing) involved trying out selected modules of the questionnaire on a small number of respondents, to obtain an approximate idea of how well the draft questionnaire sections worked. When conduct-ing the pre- test, surveyors used the digital and the hard copy of the Questionnaire. This was to dou-ble check the accuracy of the proposed methodology. The second stage (pilot test) was a more com-prehensive field test of the entire questionnaire, involving more respondents to test the survey tool and the data collection system.

The pre-test and pilot test of the Questionnaire aimed to test for:

• The time needed to complete the survey.

• To get the data enumerators to try the system out in the field

• The format of the Questions.

• To see if all the questions are easy to understand and follow by the respondents

• The nature of answers.

Generally, there were no issues with the survey tool, and a workplan was developed based on the times needed to conduct interviews. The workplan aimed to

• Allocate the various teams to the various areas according to a clear time table identifying the areas to be covered in specific time periods (rotation of interviewers to minimize biases will be taken into consideration)

• Addresses the details of all logistics (transportation, communication, etc.)

• Include periodic internal staff meetings to assess how smoothly the fieldwork and data entry are proceeding.



4.0 RESULTS AND FINDINGS

A sample of 485 females were interviewed using the survey tool that was developed. The survey was administered by a team of data enumerators recruited and trained from the AUIS. This section pre-sents the key findings from the analyses of the data collected in the field. The findings are presented in the same order as they were categorized in the survey tool itself.

4.1 Demographic Information

This part of the survey intended to capture the age groups, educational levels, employment status, and the marital status of the respondents. It also addressed whether they used public transportation or not as an indirect indication to the economic standing of the respondent given that respondents are usually hesitant to provide information about their income levels.

The majority of the respondents were between 15 to 39 years old, with the distribution of the sample comprising of 41% between the ages of 15-25, 36% between the ages of 26 to 39, 18% between the ages of 40 to 50, and 5% aged over 50 years. Those were the age groups that had been identified as the most prone to street har-assment during the FG discus-sions that took place. This indi-cates that the sample is mainly comprised of females that had been identified as mostly sub-jected to harassment. Therefore, the opinions of the interviewed sample could be considered as representative of this vulnerable group of the society.

The educational backgrounds of the interviewed sample ranged from illiterate to having a post graduate university degree as can be seen in Figure 4.2. This is indicative that the sample captures a wide and diverse range of socioeco-nomic backgrounds, and takes into account voicing the opinions of a diverse range of respondents. The majority of the sample, however, had an above primary education.

Figure 4.2 Educational Background Distribution of Respondents

The mostly represented educational background categories were Secondary Education (24%), Diplo-ma (35), and University Degree (31%).

In terms of employment, nearly 20% of the respondents were unemployed, while the remaining 80% were either employed, a student, or retired. Again, this indicates that the sample captures the opin-ions of respondents from the various walks of life.

Illiterate 2%

Primary Education

6% Secondary Education

24%

Diploma 35%

First University

Degree 31%

Higher or Post

Graduate Education

2%

Figure 4.1 Age Group Distribution of Respondents

1. 15 to 25 Years 41%

2. 26 to 39 Years 36%

3. 40 to 50 Years 18%

4. More than 50

5%



Figure 4.3 Educational Background Distribution of Respondents

The majority of the interviewed females were single (49%). Married respondents accounted for 45%, while widowed or divorced respondents accounted for 3%. Only 3% declined to comment on their marital status. Of the total sample, 68% indicated that they use public transportation, with the majori-ty of them (68%) indicating that they use public buses, while the remaining 32% indicating that they use taxis. As revealed in the FG sessions, public transport means were identified as locations where harassment occurs. Again, the fact that the majority of the sample interviewed uses public transpor-tation assures that the majority of the sample lies within the intended target group.

Figure 4.4 Usage of Public Transport

4.2 Knowledge and Understanding of the Meaning of Harassment

An overwhelming majority (80%) of the interviewed respondents indicated that they, or someone they knew, had been harassed in the past year. Upon being asked as to where they, or the person they knew, was subjected to harassment, there was a wide range of responses with the “market” be-

Unemployed 18% Self-employed

5%

Public Servant 34%

Private Sector 20%

Retired 2%

Enrolled at School_School and University

21%

Decline to answer 0%

Bus 68%

Taxi 32%



ing the highest single identified location with a 20% frequency. Figure 4.5 below shows the locations that the respondents identified as having been harassed at. Other areas identified by the respondents included means and facilities of public transport such as bus stops, roadsides, near educational facili-ties, and public parks. From an urban design and management perspective, most of those identified areas are areas that are related to municipal governments. In other words, they are areas where proper mitigaive measures to curtail the occurrence of the problem can be easily implemented and monitored by the municipality as will be elaborated on in a following section.

Figure 4.5 Places Where Harassed was Experienced

The most common types of harassment were in line with the types of harassment that had been iden-tified in the FG sessions and included verbal commenting, gestures, whistling, and starring. Some respondents even indicated that acts as touching and stalking could even be encountered as can be seen in Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6 Types of Harassment Encountered

The above two findings are alarming in the sense of extent of the occurrence of harassment with 80% of the respondents indicating that it had happened to them or someone they know, and the nature of the places where it occurs. The fact that most of the harassment occurs in public areas is indicative of the need to implement measures that improve the perceived sense of safety in the city among vulner-able groups. Another interesting finding is that the respondents’ perceptions on what constitutes

Road side 15%

Bus stop 4%

Bus 6%

Taxi stop 4%

Taxi 9%

Market 19%

Parks 9%

Mall 6%

Alley 7%

Through cellular phones

8%

Dresses areas 3%

Near school 4%

Near University

3%

Near Workplace 3% other Specify

0%

Comments 30%

Whistling 11%

Touching 12%

Staring 23%

Waving 7%

Stalking 17%

Abduction 0%

Other Specify 0%



harassment include practices that are not necessarily physical or verbal. The fact the nearly one quar-ter of the interviewed sample consider improper staring as harassment, is indicative of their under-standing of what harassment is, and the fact that even such practices make them feel uncomfortable. While not as controllable as other types of harassment, it does indicate a need for raising awareness and educating fellow citizens on the psychological pressure such act places on females. In addition, the fact that it sometimes escalates to touching and stalking is indicative of the need for a reporting and emergency aid system where the victims of harassment can report it immediately to the proper authorities.

Examining the periods of the day that respondents indicating having been subjected to harassment revealed that such actions do not necessarily happen in the evening hours. As can be seen in Figure 4.7 below, the majority of the respondents (41%) indicated that it mostly occurs between noon and five o’clock in the evening. Another 22% indicated that it mostly happens between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. that it. These two groups alone account for 63% of the respondents indicating that such practice happens in broad day light. This is indicative that the males initiating such practices have a very low perceived risk of being reprimanded, and also do not seem to view this action as one that has to be inconspicuously practiced. The times selected by the respondents are times where females could be commuting to school or work, shopping, or commuting home. A smaller, yet significant, portion of the respondents (37%) indicated that it happens after 6:00 p.m.

Figure 4.7 Times of Encountering Harassment

In other words, the act of street harassment seems to happen throughout most hours of the day, and day light does not seem to deter such activities. This indicates that any needed activities to mitigate this behavior need to take this into account, and different measures need to be implemented for vari-ous times as explained in a later section in order to help improve perceptions of the city’s safety.

An alarming 38% of the respondents indicated that the first time they were harassed was when they were less than 15 years old, and another 40% indicated that they were between the ages of 15 to 25. This indicates that different types of girls are severely subject to it including young students and the working age group. Again, this indicates the need for educational and awareness programs to edu-cate youngsters on the seriousness of the problem, and how to deal with it, in addition to ptotective Mitigative measures to reduce it intensity.

To better understand the characteristics of the harassers, respondents were asked to identify who harassed them or someone they know. As can be seen in Figure 4.8 below, there is wide range of males that are reported to have harassed the different respondents.

Morning from 6 to 11 am

22%

During day from 12 to 5

pm 41%

Evening from 6 to 10 pm

25%

Late of night after 10pm

12%



Figure 4.8 Characteristics of Harassers

As can be seen in the Figure, the largest single category of male harassers is what the respondents identified as the unemployed. While there are no means for victims to confirm whether such people are unemployed or not, this is the term often given to males that spend significant amounts of time simply hanging out in public areas. This is most probably due to the fact that they are unemployed. This indicates that employment generation programs or vocational training programs targeting male youth, could indirectly help mitigate the problem of street harassment. It is believed that if such in-dividuals spend less time not doing anything on the streets and public places the possibility of them become instigators of harassment will reduce.

Another critical group identified by the respondents is the drivers of public transport vehicles, with 21% often respondents identifying them as initiators of harassment. This shows that there is a need to both educate this group to raise their awareness on the inappropriateness of such behavior, and the need for the municipal government to provide the means of monitoring such public service, and ef-fectively provide the means to enforce measures to curtail it.

Enforcement and awareness raising is also needed to target the third group comprising of shop keep-ers and laborers at such shops. Again, continuous proper monitoring and enforcement in public markets is needed, and awareness programs targeting such group is also needed.

A low, yet alarming proportion of respondents indicated that security forces themselves were often the initiators of harassment. This means that awareness and proper training for such individuals have to be designed and implemented by the local government.

With 4% reporting having been harassed by a family member or a relative, there is a need for educa-tion and awareness among young girls to better educate them about this problem, and how to deal with it when harassed by a family member. This involves providing the means with which such vic-tims can report such behavior, and to instill in them that it is not acceptable in any way and should not go unpunished.

4.3 Frequency and Places of Harassment

This part of the survey tool aimed to the frequency of the occurrence of various types of harassment, and the places within Sulaimani that they believe harassment occurs the most.

For eight pre-selected types of street harassment, the respondents were asked to indicate the frequen-cy of its occurrence. The findings are shown in Table 4.1 below. As can be seen in the Table, the per-ceived frequencies of occurrence differ by the type of harassment. According to the respondents, the verbal and visual types of harassment are reported to be of high occurrence, with over half of the re-spondents indicating that it happens every few days or more. The types of harassment of a more forward inappropriate nature, while reported to occur, seems to rarely happen if not at all.

Colleagues 3%

Policemen and security forces

4%

Shop owenrs 12%

Workers and Hand

Craftsmen 11%

Drivers such as Bus driver Taxi

drivers 21%

Schools or university students

11%

Unemployed 32%

Relatives or friends

4%

Others Specify 2%



Table 4.1 Frequency of Occurrence of Types of Harassment

In your opinion, what are the fre-quencies of women’s street harass-

ment in the form of?

Never happened Rarely Once a month Twice a month Every few days or more

Value % Value % Value % Value % Value %

Catcalls, whistles, or stares 26 5.3 86 17.7 46 9.5 54 11.1 272 56

Unwanted attention 112 23 137 28.2 57 11.7 57 11.5 122 25.1

Crude or offensive jokes 140 28.8 155 31.9 58 11.9 41 8.4 90 18.5

Sexist remarks or behaviors 128 26.3 183 37.7 43 8.8 33 6.8 97 20

Seductive remarks or come ons 164 33.7 175 36 25 5.1 40 8.2 80 16.5

Unwanted touching 182 37.4 205 42.2 26 5.3 17 3.5 54 11.1

Pressure to cooperate improperly 333 68.5 119 24.5 6 1.2 20 4.1 6 1.2

Forceful fondling or grabbing 331 68.1 118 24.3 13 2.7 6 1.2 16 3.3

Upon being asked to name the places within the city where they though harassment occurred the most, the results in Figure 4.9 were obtained. The detailed list of sites identified as locations where harassment occurs in included in the Appendix.

Figure 4.9 Locations Reported to be of High Harassment Incidents



When asked to rate how street harassment affects the respondents’ ability to restricts their ability to freely and comfortably move around in the city, the following responses were obtained.

Table 4.2 Perceived Safety as a Result of Harassment

Restriction of movement due to harassment Strongly Disagree

(1) 2 3 4 5 6

Strongly Agree

(7)

I feel safe walking around alone 18 12.4 19.1 12.4 13.5 6.7 18

I would not feel comfortable walking alone in the city 9 14.6 10.1 9 20.2 9 28.1

If I need to go out, I often try to have a male accompany me 30 10.1 7.9 5.6 9 11.2 25.8

I try to avoid certain places in Sulaimania 10 9 11.2 12.4 11.2 6.7 39.3

I feel as safe with a group of girlfriends as I do with a male com-panion even at night 13 9 15.7 6.7 6.7 9 39.3

• As can be seen in the Table above, there were mixed perceptions on the feeling of safety walking around the city alone, with 18% strongly agreeing with the statement, and a similar portion strongly disagreeing with the statement. More respondents tended to disagree with the statement, however, indicating a general feeling of non-safety.

• More respondents indicated that they do not feel comfortable walking alone, with nearly 30% strongly agreeing with the statement, and only 9% strongly disagreeing with the statement.

• A higher portion of respondents indicated that they strongly disagreed with the need to have a male companion accompany them if they need to go out. Still, nearly one quarter of the sample indicated that they strongly agreed with the need for such practice.

• Nearly 40% agree with the statement that they avoid certain places in Sulaimani on account of the possibility of harassment with nearly 40% strongly agreeing with this statement.

• Being accompanied by a group of female companions seemed to be more acceptable by respondents than being accompanied by a male companion with nearly 40% of respondents strongly agreeing with such practice. This could explain the above trend, and the fact that a male companion often inhibits privacy of the female.

4.4 Perceptions on Harassment

Nearly 10% agreed that the girl herself is the reason for the harassment. while 57% agreed that she sometimes could be the reason, and 33% disagreed. The way that the respondents always or some-times agreeing to this identified as triggers for harassment include those shown in Figure 4.10 below.

Figure 4.10 Ways a Female Could Trigger Harassment

As can be seen in the above Figure, there is a general perception that the appearance of the female could often trigger harassment. While a sensitive issue in a conservative community, it does reveal a

Wearing tight clothes

20%

Indecent behavior

18% The way

girls walk 13%

Non compliance

with customs and traditions

11%

Provocative make-up

10%

The way girls talk 12%

Lack of discipline

10%

Not conforming to religious values with

regard to appearance

6%



perception that sometimes harassment can be justified. While the authors of this report do not pro-mote non-compliance with cultural values, it is important to instill the concept that two wrongs do not make a right. The way a female dresses in such communities, while important, should not give harassers an excuse to harass. This indicates the need for education and raising awareness both among males and females. Such awareness should promote compliance with traditions and local cul-tural values among females, and make them more aware that improper conduct could make them targets for harassment, but at the same time, it should target males to react differently. This subject needs further study.

Despite the above trend, nearly 60% of the respondents indicated that there are no excuses that justify harassment. Figure 4.11 shows the age groups of the males that the respondents indicated are typical of harassers.

Figure 4.11 Age Group of Harassers

As can be seen in the Figure, the majority of harassing males are between 18 and 39 years old, with the 18-24 years old group being the largest single age group. Older age groups were also reported. Those numbers help identify which age groups any awareness campaigns should target, and would also help design campaigns that are age specific.

4.5 Reactions on Harassment

This section was primarily concerned with documenting the respondent’s own experiences of being harassed, and their respective reactions on how they dealt with such incidents. Capturing the re-spondent’s feelings and responses towards assault is of great significance to this study since it better assesses the females’ overall perception on street harassment and how they choose to deal with it. The opening question of this section asked the respondents to identify the way they feel about street harassment. The largest share of the respondents of 27% expressed their anger towards it.

Less than 11 1% 12 years to

17 years 13%

18-24 24%

25-29 19%

30-39 17%

40-49 10%

50-59 10%

60 and more 4%

I don't know 2%



Figure 4.12 Respondent’s Range of Feelings Towards Harassment

Other reactions included fear and disappointment with percentages of 12% and 14%, respectively. As illustrated in Figure 4.12, the rest of the answers were very close as the respondents expressed various emotions of shame (7%), anxiety (7%), depression (6%), humiliation (6%), hopelessness (5%), loss of self-esteem (4%), confusion (4%), guilt (3%) and finally, around 3% expressed their need to talk to someone about it. It is positive to see that more women are angered and disappointed with harass-ment than feeling guilty; nevertheless, it is important not to deny the negative self-shaming and de-pressing self-image perceptions that women develop upon experiencing street harassment.

As a follow up to the previous question, women were asked whether they had ever reacted upon ex-periencing harassment, and the majority of 58% responded that they did. Moreover, Figure 4.13 shows the various responses indicating the kinds of reactions that these reacting respondents have taken in response to harassment. As illustrated in the Figure, a large portion of about 45% reacted verbally, as opposed to 25% that choose to ignore it. A smaller proportion of 13% physically react to harassment, and another 5% indicated they run away. Nearly 5% of the respondents pointed out that they use body language as their reaction to assault while only small percentages of them indicated they would report to the police, call a father/brother or even seek the help of a bystander with 3% for each category. These low percentages show an interesting trend where less and less women try to ask for help and choose to deal with it on their own even if it meant ignoring the event or running away from the situation.

Angry 27%

Afraid 12%

Guilty 3%

Shame 7%

Confusion 4%

Anxiety 7%

Depression 6%

Loss of self esteem

4%

Feeling of humiliation

6%

Feeling of hopelessness

5%

Disappointed 14%

Hope to have someone to talk

3%

Nothing 2%



Figure 4.12 Respondent’s Reactions to Harassment

As for the 42% that indicated they did not/would not react to harassment upon experiencing it, a fol-low up question inquired about the reasons that prevented them from doing so. A lot of the responses were very close as 19% attributed their lack of response, to fear from other people’s reaction whereas 18% did not react because they believed that society blames the woman for harassment. Moreover, around 16% were worried about the impact a reaction would have on their reputation, and 15% indi-cated that harassment is a common occurrence, which is why they saw no point in reacting to each accident. Figure 4.13 shows the different justifications and reasons women demonstrated for their lack of reaction towards street harassment.

Figure 4.13 Respondent’s Reasons for Non Responsiveness

Ignoring 25%

Responding verbally

43%

Responding physically

13%

Responding with body language

5%

Reporting to police

3%

Call your brother or

your father 3%

Seeking help from bystanders

3%

Running away 5%

This is a common occurrence that

happens to anyone 15%

I was afraid of people’s reaction

19%

The community blames the woman

18%

I was afraid of the impact it could have

on my reputation 16%

There is no one I can turn to

5%

I was afraid of

harassment in the police

station 5%

I thought the police would never help or

believe me 3%

I believed nobody would help me

4%

There were no

witnesses 2%

Fearing the harasser

10%

Others Specify 3%



In an attempt to understand how the community reacts to various incidents of street harassment, re-spondents were asked whether they had ever received help in a situation of harassment. Around 30% indicated that they had. Figure 4.14 shows the different ways they received such help. Around 36% indicated that they got support from people around, whereas 34% pointed out that they confronted the harasser. A total of 24% illustrated getting help from male figures in the family/community as 14% called their brother or their father, and about 10% called a male relative or a friend. Finally, only 6% noted that they called the police.

Figure 4.14 Reactions of the Community

4.6 Awareness of Laws

When asked as to whether they knew of any laws to protect women from harassment, 44% of the re-spondents indicated that there are no such laws, and 35% indicated that they did not know as can be seen in Figure 4.15. Given that there is a law, this is an alarming finding which indicates that the ma-jority of females in Sulaimani are not aware of their legal rights. This is in line with feedback from the FG sessions, which further revealed that even females that are aware of the law do not have much faith in its ability to protect them from harassment.

Figure 4.15 Awareness of the Law

This finding means that there is a need for efforts to make females aware of the existence of such laws, the extent to which they protect them, and to educate them on how to make the best use of such laws to ensure their safety. There is also a need to promote the enforcement of the law, and to make potential harassers aware of the existence of such law, increased their perceived risk of being held

Called the Police 6%

Confronted the harasser

34%

Call your brother or your father

14%

Calling Male Relative or Friend

10%

Got support from people around

36%

Yes there is 21%

No, there isn’t 44%

I don’t know 35%



accountable, and making them aware of the consequences. The lack of knowledge of the law and its enforcement promote non deterrent behavior.

Precautionary measures that females currently take to avoid being exposed to harassment include avoiding dressing a certain way, avoiding going out, and avoiding certain locations; all actions that limit their freedom. None of the respondents indicated that she relies on the law, which emphasizes the above finding on negligence of its existence.

Figure 4.16 Precautionary Measures Taken to Avoid Harassment

4.7 Proposed Solutions to Mitigate the Problem

When asked as to what should be done for women to stop their exposure to harassment, more than half of the respondents indicated that they should be educated on their legal rights. It was also em-phasized that they should be educated on the importance of making a complaint when harassed. Other suggestions included teaching them to defend themselves, and to boost their confidence and self-esteem as can be seen in Figure 4.17.

Figure 4.17 Actions to be Done for Women to Stop them from Neing Harassed

Suggestions on what should be done in Sulaimani included the following with varying degrees of concurrence

• Awareness campaigns involving all stakeholders

• Utilizing the media for sending messages to taxi drivers and focusing on punishment

I do not take any

precautions as I feel safe in

the city. 8%

Avoid certain public spaces

25%

Avoid going out alone after

dark 23%

Avoid going out alone

15%

Avoid wearing certain clothes,

which may seem

provocative 26%

Carry items such as pepper spray or safety

pins etc 3%

Educate women about their rights

35%

Educate women on

the importance of

making a complaint

29%

self-defense courses for girls,

as well as building their self confidence

33%

Other specify 3%



• Increased security personnel, especially in areas where harassment occurs

• Placing cameras with display screens in places where harassment often occurs

• Mechanism for reporting harassment

• Better lighting conditions on streets

• Sever punishment and penalties

• Shelter for battered women

• Curricula on human rights and equality

• Co-educational schools

• Female public transport

• Certification and licensing of public transport drivers



5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Main Conclusions

The following are the main conclusions made based on the results of the data analyses:

1. A high proportion of respondents indicated that they, or someone they knew, had been harassed in the past year. This is indicative that it is a problem that is faced by the majority of female residents of Sulaimani. Given that the sample was comprised of a group of respondents with a diverse socioeconomic background, one can conclude that it is an issue that faces females of all backgrounds.

2. The occurrence of the problem is not confined to a single type or part of the city, and includes a wide range of places with markets being identified as the place where it happens the most. Other areas where harassment was reported to have happened include schools and universities, means of public transport, and the workplace. This leads to the conclusion that the problem is extensive, and not confined to a certain part of the city. Therefore, any Mitigative measures would have to be comprehensive and include a variety of countermeasures.

3. The most common types of harassment included verbal commenting, gestures, whistling, and staring. This is typical of communities similar to Sulaimani given the conservative nature. It is, however, still considered offensive behavior, and intrusive on females’ ability to use their city freely whether for work, education, or leisure. While to a lesser extent, some respondents even indicated that acts as touching and stalking could even be encountered. Improper staring was also defined as being a form of harassment.

4. Harassment was reported to happen through most hours of the day. The majority of the respondents indicated that it mostly occurs between noon and five o’clock in the evening; however, it also does hapeen before and after that period. This is indicative that the males initiating such practices have a very low perceived risk of being reprimanded, and also do not seem to view this action as one that has to be inconspicuously practiced. In other words, the act of street harassment seems to happen throughout most hours of the day, and day light does not seem to deter such activities.

5. A high proportion of respondents indicated that the first time they were harassed was when they were less than 15 years old, thus, indicating that girls are severely subject to it including young students and the working age group. The main conclusion drawn from this is that girls of all age groups have to be protected and educated on how to deal with such situation, especially yonger girls who may feel more vulnerable and weak.

6. The largest category of male harassers perceived by respondents are males that seem to be unemployed, and spend significant amounts of time just wandering around in the streets. Another critical group identified by the respondents as harassers are the drivers of public transport vehicles. Shop keepers and laborers at such shops were also identified as harassers. Some respondents even identified security forces themselves as the initiators of harassment. A small proportion of respondents identified family members as harassers as well.

7. The perceived frequencies of occurrence differ by the type of harassment. The verbal and visual types of harassment are reported to be of the highest occurrence and occur almost on a daily basis. The types of harassment of a more forward nature, while reported to occur, seems to rarely happen if not at all.

8. Several sites where identified by the respondents to be locations with high indicences of harassment. It is those locations that any interventions through the Safer Cities Initiative should initially focus on.

9. The occurrence of harassment does seem to prohibit the freedom and ability of female residents to move freely throughout the city. A significant proportion of respondents do not feel safe walking around the city alone. Others do not even feel comfortable walking alone in certain parts of the city. Several respondents indicated that they prefer to travel in groups to feel safer. Nearly hald the respondents stated that they avoid certain places in Sulaimani on account of the possibility of harassment.



10. There is a perception that the girl herself could be the reason for the harassment, and that the appearance of the female could often trigger harassment. Over half of the respondents believe that that there are no excuses to justify harassment.

11. Harassing males are mostly between 18 and 39 years old, with the 18-24 years old group being the largest single age group. Older age groups were also reported.

12. The largest share of the respondents reported a feeling of anger upon being harassed, with other respondents having mixed feelings including fear and disappointment, shame, anxiety, depression, humiliation, hopelessness, loss of self-esteem, confusion, and guilt.

13. More than half the respondents indicated that they react to harassment, and that their reaction is mostly verbal. As for the respondents that indicated they do not react to harassment upon experiencing it attributed it to fear from other people’s reaction.

14. Only 30% indicated that by-standers from the community intervened when they were harassed. This is indicative that there is a need for raising awareness among Sulaimani residents to combat this problem, and that every member of the community has a role in this.

15. On familiarity with laws to protect women from harassment, the majority of respondents either indicated that no such laws exist, or that they did not know of their existence. It can be concluded that the majority of females in Sulaimani are not aware of their legal rights.

16. Precautionary measures that females currently take to avoid being exposed to harassment include avoiding dressing a certain way, avoiding going out, and avoiding certain locations; all actions that limit their freedom.

17. Based on the results illustrated by the cross-analysis that is broken down by age groups, there are some variances that show that women from different ages do not have the same experiences with regards to their exposure street harassment, their reaction and their perception and feelings about their assaults. On the one hand, the results indicate that women who are between the ages of 15-25 are of a higher susceptibility to being harassed due to their younger age and vulnerability. Moreover, due to their nature of studying and attend-ing school, more of these girls use different modes of transportation to various places; thereby, making them more prone to incidents of public or street harassment. When asked about the age at the first incident of assault, the majority of the women reported that it was between the ages of 15-25, which further confirms the vulnerability of this age group. While women, who were 40 years of age and older, expressed fewer experiences with harassment, they constitute the second largest group that were first harassed at their age. This demonstrates that these women are also vulnerable because of their age and inability to fight the harasser. Other variances were illustrated in the way women from each group felt about and react towards their harassment; while most of the younger women felt fear, anxiety and disappointment, women between the ages of 26-39 felt more shame and guilt. Finally the third group felt a sense of hopelessness and despair coupled with their shame. The reason behind the differences among these age groups attributed to how society treats each of these groups and their self-image. It is expected from young girls to be extremely scared and anxious about such incidents of harassment, while it is more of a societal constraint for the older women to feel ashamed and guilty about it. This could be an indication of how society views women and their responsibility regarding assault. Correspondingly, the majority of the women believed that the girl is sometimes responsible for he own assault. Finally, there is an equal lack of awareness among most of these women with it comes to knowledge of the laws against street harassment, which is something that needs to be addressed urgently and starting from an earlier age

5.2 Recommendations

Based on the above findings, there is a significant need for countermeasures and Mitigative measures to help combat the street harassement targeted at females in Sulaimani. Recommendations for such measures lie in three core areas as follows:



Physical and Municipal Service Countermeasures

Those are a set of Mitigative measures that could be introduced to the areas where harassment was reported to be of high incidents. It includes physical infrastructure improvements that the municipal government can introduce to various parts of the city, which would help curtail the occurrence of street harassment. Such imporvements will both help deter offenders from harassing females, and will also help improve females’ perception on safety on the streets, thus, improve their mobility and ability to move throughout the city freely. Recommended countermeasures include, but are not lim-ited to, the following:

Urban Design and Settings:

The surrounding environment in a part of the city can often trigger harassment. This is either because it allows closer physical interaction (e.g., crowded areas), gives the harasser a low perceived risk of being noticed (e.g., bad lighting conditions), or gives the impression that he can get away with it (e.g., narrow alleys with interwined side streets).

To this end, it is recommended that the Sulaimani Muncipality conduct detailed physical in-frastructure assessments of the areas that were identified as part of this study to examine those conditions. Solutions that could be explored by the city urban design officials include:

• Evaluating the lighting conditions in those areas, and rehabilitating areas with bad lighting and/or introduce lighting to unlit areas.

• There are several alleys in the old parts of the market, some of which are dead ends with limited traffic. Improvements to such alleys include widening, improving the visibility, or even CCTV live monitoring could help.

• Landscaping of public parks to ensure high visibility in various parts of the parks. This could include eliminating vegetation that provides cover to a potential harasser, provision of more open spaces, and imporved lighting conditions.

• Live monitoring screens in public areas in the form of cameras with a large screen display. Those do not necessarily have to provide continuous monitoring, and have become a trade mark for advertising in several cities throughout the world for advertising. The attractive part of such screen displays is that it could be financed by the private sector as part of their advertising. Live displays of pedestrian traffic every few minutes could increase the perceived risk of apprehension, thus, deter harassment behavior.

• Improved conditions of pedestrian facilities in various area. The lack of pedestrian facilities and propoer sidewalks could often force a pedestrian to change their route, or to walk on eth pavement. This could create an appropriate environment to trigger the initiation of harassment. Propoerly design pedestrian facilities could help curtail this.

• Enhanced visibility of security presence. This can be done through increased patrolling of policemen and women in crowded areas to give the sense that such sites are continuously enforced. It is also recommended that female patrols be dedicated to parts of the city reported to have high incidence of harassment.

• Provision of female friendly public transport. This could be done through the provision of bus stops dedicated to women, or introducing female friendly seating arrangements on public buses. Other ideas include the provision of female taxi drivers services through opening up such opportunities to the private sector.

Policy Countermeasures

This set of recommendations relates more to policies that the municipal government can adopt to mitigate the occurrence of street harassment. With the low knowledge of the exist-ence of laws to protect women, and the declined faith in such laws, there is a need for adopt-ing such policies. Policies to be adopted by the city and the security forces include:



• More serious enforcement of the law with apprehensions, prosectutions, and enforcing penalites on convicted harassers.

• Enactment of severe penalities for street harassment, and making them highly publicized.

• Providing a more effective complaint system to enable vicitms to report incidences.

• Certification programs for the drivers of public transport vehicles where they undergo training on propoer communication skills, especially with females. This should be accompanied by requirements that force drivers to make their licenses and details visible at all times while driving.

• Employment generation policies and interventions to create job and employment opportunities for young males.

Awareness Raising Countermeasures

As the results in the previous section revealed, there is a need for awareness rasing among different groups of citzens. Key areas of such education and awareness raising include the following:

• Young girls should be educated on what constitutes street harassment and that it is never acceptable, and should be reported.

• Education on the availability of laws that protect females from various kinds of violence including harassment.

• Education targeting young males to educate them on the sever consequences of harassment.

• Education and awareness to recognize the safety of women and girls in public spaces. All students need to be made aware that street harassment is not acceptable. Male students need to be educated on themes of gender equality, while female students also need to understand their rights, including their right to respond to, and report, incidences of street harassment.

• Increased civic society awareness and partnership with local community-based organizations to combat the problem.

• Education to male citizens on the need for their intervention when witnessing an occurrence of harassment.

• Education for females on how to react to harassment.



APPENDIX I: INTERVIEW GUIDE



“Survey in the City of Sulaimani: Perceptions of Levels of Harassment of Women”2015

Table of contents

1. General Introduction

1.1. Purpose of the Survey

1.2. Survey objectives

1.3. Basic Rules of Interview

1.4. Interview Procedures

1.4.1. Preparation for the Interview

1.4.2. Conducting the Interview

1.4.3. Finishing the Interview

1.5. Ethical Considerations

2. Data Collection Platform

2.1. Getting Started

2.2. Login

2.3. Online Vs Offline Data Collection

2.4. Fetching Forms from Your Account

2.5. Conducting the Survey

2.6. App Settings

2.7. Update Data Automatically

2.8. Forms List Settings

2.9. Questions List Settings

3. UNWomen Questionnaire



1. General Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the Survey

The Purpose of the study is to develop and carry out a survey of attitudes to harassment in the street in downtown Sulaimanya and to formulate a set of recommendations to form the basis of a pilot safer cities project for Sulaymanya.

Women and girls living in urban centres face a wide range of challenges and experience a higher risk of exposure. Whether on city streets, public transportation or at neighbourhood level, women and girls are exposed to a range of gender-based violence and abuse including street harassment and as-saults as well as domestic violence. Daily occurrences limit the freedom of women and take away their ability to enjoy the opportunities provided in cities and their ability to seek equality within their communities. In addition, various forms of discrimination and abuse levelled against women include poor access to information and services as well as exclusion from political and socio-economic partic-ipation.

UNWomen is carrying out this survey of women and girls in central downtown Sulaimanya to help identify those areas of the central city that are considered to be less safe for women than other areas, and to determine the reasons for this perception. The report from this survey will form the basis for building the pilot project to make Sulaimanya a safer city for all its residents.

1.2 Survey objectives

The purpose of this survey is to:

1. Identify key areas of downtown Sulaimanya that are considered to be difficult areas for women because of perceived problems of street harassment.

2. Identify the reasons for this perception amongst women from a cross-section of female city dwellers

3. Identify possible quick fixes for urban planners and produce a set of recommendations that can be used as the basis for future participatory discussions between city dwellers and city planners.

1.3 Basic Rules of Interview

1) Dress appropriately for the interview. Remember that, as the interviewer, you are represent-ing your community. Neatness and cleanliness are essential. You do not want to overdress, however, because doing so may intimidate the respondents. Instead, it is best to dress much as the respondents do.

2) As an interviewer, your task is to obtain the information itemized in the questionnaire through face-to-face interview with the interviewee. The interview should not be conducted over the phone, nor should the questionnaire be filled out by the interviewees themselves.

3) As an interviewer, you should familiarize yourself with the structure of the questionnaire, and the appropriate ways to introduce these questions. You need to understand the instructions for each item, and be able to clarify any misunderstandings the respondent might have regarding the interview items. You should be able to correctly fill in the questionnaire. The finished questionnaire should be legible and accurate.

4) As an interviewer, you should ask questions and record answers according to the sequence of the questionnaire. And you should not change the content of the questionnaire. And should ask each and every question in the questionnaire. If there is any item left unfinished or unfilled, the ques-tionnaire will be treated as incomplete.

5) As an interviewer, you should be patient and careful, and record respondent’s answers ac-curately. And you should facilitate the respondent’s recall of details of particular events and try to obtain complete and accurate information.

6) Questionnaires must be filled out clearly and completely.

1.4 Interview Procedures



1.4.1 Preparation for the Interview 1) Before conducting an interview, as the interviewer, you should fully understand the require-ments of the interview and be familiar with the content of the questionnaire.

2) You should contact your supervisor immediately should you have any questions.

3) You need to spend some time practicing the interview, including practicing how to introduce yourself, how to introduce the purpose and contents of the interview, how to ask for specific infor-mation about each item, how to clarify questions that the respondents might ask, etc.

1.4.2 Conducting the Interview

1) As the interviewer, you should first introduce yourself, and might want to chat with the re-spondent briefly to ease his/her potential nervousness.

2) As the interviewer, you should give respondents an opportunity to raise questions. And you should address in a straightforward way any concerns that the respondent may have regarding this interview, such as “why did you select me to interview?”, “who is the supervisor of the survey?” etc.

3) As an interviewer, you should indicate to the respondents how long the interview usually takes.

4) As an interviewer, you have to explain the purpose of the interview as introduction, which could be something like “Our project, Is a Survey Study in the city of Sulaimanya to determine perceptions of levels of harassment of women in different areas of the city as preparation for the launching of a safer cities pilot project in Sulaimanya. We hope to work closely with you to identify those areas of the central city that are considered to be less safe for women than other areas, and to determine the reasons for this perception”.

5) Before starting the interview, you should communicate and stress the confidential nature of the collected data. And you must be assured that all his/her answers/opinions will remain anony-mous.

6) To collect high-quality data, as an interviewer you have to do the following,:

• Do not comment on responses; go directly to reading the next question.

• Never skip a question unless the survey tells you to.

• Do not make jokes or conversation, and do not encourage your respondent to do so ei-ther. Establishing a personal connection with a respondent will bias their responses.

• If the respondent does not answer on the scale, repeat the whole scale back to them. They must pick from the scale before you record a response. Say “I’m sorry, the only choices I have are ‘extremely important, important, not Important, or not at all important’ (or whatever the scale is); which would you like me to record?”.

• Do not record a response until the respondent picks one of the options on the scale. Do not anticipate a response.

• Look at the person, not the survey, as much as possible.

• Do not let the respondent, or anyone with them look at the questionnaire over your shoulder.

• If you are surveying someone in a group of people, accept answers from only one person, and if others try to comment, explain that you cannot accept the responses.

• Attempt to remain as neutral as possible (that is, don't show strong emotional reactions to their responses).

• Encourage responses with occasional nods of the head, "uh huh"s, etc.

• Be careful about the appearance when note taking (that is, if you jump to take a note, it may appear as if you're surprised or very pleased about an answer, which may influence answers to future questions).



• If you have a list or introduction in the survey that feels long and boring to you, remem-ber that the respondent has not heard it a million times, so make it sound interesting—they will follow your lead.

• If the respondent hesitates to answer, read the list of responses to them; you can say, for example, “extremely important, important, not Important, or not at all important?’” This will help to speed up the interview.

• Don't lose control of the interview (this can occur when respondents stray to another top-ic, take so long to answer a question that times begins to run out, or even begin asking questions to the interviewer).

1.4.3 Finishing the Interview

1) Always remember to thank the respondent for his or her time and cooperation after the inter-view.

1.4.4 Ethical Considerations

1) Never alter or ignore the information or opinions given by the interviewees. Changing or ex-cluding information is not permitted under any circumstances.

2) As an interviewer, you must not pressure or obligate interviewees to provide the information solicited in the survey.

3) As an interviewer, you must respect the responses and opinions of the interviewees.

4) Under no circumstances should you suggest responses to the respondents.

5) As an interviewer, you must not offer any recompense or make false promises in exchange for the information solicited in the survey unless the institution has decided to compensate respond-ents for their time monetarily or otherwise. If such is the case, the institution will provide the neces-sary instructions for you on how to proceed.

6) As an interviewer, you must never divulge, repeat, or comment on the information or opin-ions given by the interviewees nor should you show completed questionnaires to anyone not in-volved with the study. Always remember that any information provided by respondents is CONFI-DENTIAL.



2. Data Collection Platform 2.1 Getting started

There are two requirements if you want to use Magpi for Android

1- You must have a signed up for an account with Magpi. 2- You must have the application installed on your phone.

2.2 Log in

To log in to Magpi mobile, use the same email that you used to register on https://magpi.com

You must make sure at all times that your log in has been saved before logging in to the app. This is to ensure that you are still logged in even when you have no internet connection, and to allow you to go back to where you left after you have exited the app.

Once you are logged in, all forms that are owned or shared with you will be fetch from your online account.

2.3 Online Vs Offline Data collection

o Online Data collection- This is a very convenient method, as it allows you to update your forms immediately as you are making changes. It is even more useful when you have activat-ed automatic data upload.

o Offline data collection- The most important thing to consider while taking records offline is how stable your internet connection is. Remember that when using this method you must en-sure that you log in is saved at the point of signing in, and that the form you intend to work on has been opened and ready for data collection

2.4 Fetching forms from your Account

The main menu features 2 main tabs

1. All forms 2. Favorite Forms

1. All forms

All forms’ tab contains a list of all forms existing in your account. These forms consists of

a) 1-Private form (forms that are owned by you) b) 2-Public forms (forms that have been shared with your account)

2. Favorite forms

These are forms that have been selected for this purpose, because they are currently in use, or will be reused

1. To Favorite a form Select a form and press hold on it

Select favorite from the list of option displayed



2. To remove your favorite list Go to the favorites menu and select the form then click on ‘Unfavorite’

2.5 Conducting the Survey

1. Adding records

Pressand hold the form in the forms’ list view and select ‘Add record’ to add a new record

This will call the form to fetch all question from the server. Note that for these records to fetch, you are required to be connected to the internet.

Here is a look at your form when it is fetched

The main questions screen

And inside the question screen



At the end of each record is a screen of options, allowing you to review/upload/or save your form data

2. Managing records

Survey taking involves decisions in the field that might cause the interviewer to leave records on pause, to be continued later. This affects what saving function will take place

3. Saving completed record

Each record is saved whenever you get passed the last question of the survey. This allows it to be sent to a saved folder, where it can then be uploaded.

4. Saving incomplete records

Sometimes a survey maybe interrupted for one reason or another. At this point, you can save your record by using the topmost back button at the top of the record screen where you will be presented with the option to save or discard the records

5. Discarding records

Use the back button at the top of your screen to discard a new record.

6. Other Form Functions

Clicking on a form opens up a number of options



• Uploading your Data - hold and click on form and select ‘Upload Data’

• Reviewing Data-To review your data, hold and click on a form, and select ‘Review data’

• Exporting Data- Use this feature if you would like to view your data externally. Files are stored in .txt file format

2.6 App Settings

To go to the App settings, click on settings at the top of your screen

It allows you to set up some advanced settings to suit your needs. Here are some of the settings you will find



2.7 Update data automatically

This switch is there to enable real time data entry and submission. By default, it is switched off. You can only enable it if you are within constant reach of a working internet connection, either mobile da-ta or wifi.

2.8 Forms List Settings

This opens up a menu that enables in which sorting order you would like your forms displayed

The form will show up sorted in the order you selected. See the example below

2.9 Questions list Settings

This function allows you to enable or hide skipped questions.

You can do this by switching the button on/off

About This menu displays information about the application. This is where you will be able to see the app version.



3. UNWomen Questionnaire 3.1 Introduction

This section introduces the survey and explains the confidentiality statement to the participant.

3.2 General Information

This section gathers Demographic Information (Interview Location, Respondent Age, Level of educa-tion, Occupation and Marital status).

3.3 Knowledge and Understanding of the Meaning of Harassment

The purpose of this part of the questionnaire is to collect information about the respondent’s under-standing about the Harassment.

Name of the Surveyor:__________________

Date :______/______/__________________ (DD/MM/YYYY)

Location:_____________________________

1. Demographic Information 1. Where do you live? ____________________________

2. What is your Age?

1. 15 to 25 Years

2. 26 to 39 Years

3. 40 to 50 Years

4. More than 50

3. What is the highest level of education you have complet-ed?

1. Illiterate

2. Primary Education

3. Secondary Education

4. Diploma

5. First University Degree

6. Higher/Post Graduate Edu-cation

7. Currently a student

4. What is your Occupation?

1. Unemployed

2. Self-employed

3. Public Servant

4. Private Sector

5. Retired

6. Enrolled at School ( School and University)

7. Others, Specify (_______)

8. Decline to answer

5. What is your marital status? 1. Single 2. Married

3. Widowed 4. Separated



5. Divorced 6. Decline to answer

6. Do you use Public transportation? 1. Yes 2. No

7. If Yes, Please specify what modes of public transport do you use? (Tick all applicable)

1. Bus 2. Taxi

8. If Yes, Please specify how often do you use public transport per week?

2. Knowledge and Understanding of the Meaning of Harassment

9

Have you been street harassed / or someone you know (friend, neighbor, sister, daughter....) by men in a public space (such as market, bus stop, roadside, in the bus, in the taxi, at a Mall etc) in the last year?

1. Yes (My-self)

2. Yes (Other)

3. No (If NO Go to Q15)

10 If Yes, Where have you/she been street harassed? (Tick all applicable)

1. Roadside

2. Bus Stop

3. Bus

4. Taxis Stop

5. Taxi

6. Marketplace

7. Parks

8. Mall

9. Alley

10. Through Cellular Phones

11. Deserted Areas

12. Near School

13. Near University

14. Near Work Place

15. Other (specify _____)

11 What kind(s) of harassment have you/she faced? (Tick all applicable)

1. Comments

2. Whistling

3. Touching

4. Staring

5. Waving

6. Stalking/ Car follow-up

7. Kidnapping

8. Other (Specify________)

12

At what time(s) of the day have you/she faced street harassment / street harassment? (Tick all applicable)

1. Morning (6-11 am)

2. During Day (12-5 pm)

3. Evening (6-10 pm)

4. Late at Night (After 10 pm)



13 Who harassed you/she? (Tick all applicable)

1. Colleagues

2. Policeman and Security forces

3. Shop owners

4. Workers and Hand Craftsmen

5. Drivers (Bus driver, Taxi drivers …etc)

6. Schools or university students

7. Unemployed

8. Relatives/friends


14 Age at first street harassment

1. Less than 15 years

2. 15 to 25 Years

3. 26 to 39 Years

4. 40 to 50 Years

5. More than 50 Years

6. I don’t Remember

3. Forms of Harassment, Frequency and Places

15 In your opinion, what are the frequency of women’s street harassment / harassment experiences

15a Catcalls, whistles, or stares

Never hap-pened

Rarely

Once a month Twice a month

Every few days or more

15b Unwanted attention

Never hap-pened

Rarely



15c Crude or offensive jokes

Never hap-pened

Rarely



15d Sexist remarks or behaviors

Never hap-pened

Rarely



15e Seductive remarks or ‘‘come ons’’ Never hap- Rarely



pened



15f Unwanted touching

Never hap-pened

Rarely



15g Direct pressure to cooperate improperly

Never hap-pened

Rarely



15h Forceful fondling or grabbing

Never hap-pened

Rarely



16 Would you please name a 3 most places were usually harassment occurred?

1. ________________________

2. ________________________

3. ________________________

17 Please assess restriction of movement due to street harassed / harassed, on a scale ranging;

from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree)

17a I feel safe walking around alone strongly disagree 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 strongly agree

17b I would not feel comfortable walking alone in the city strongly disagree1-2-3-4-5-6-7 strongly agree

17c If I need to go out of my house, I often try to have a male accompany me

strongly disagree1-2-3-4-5-6-7 strongly agree

17d I try to avoid certain places in Sulaimania strongly disagree1-2-3-4-5-6-7 strongly agree

17e I feel as safe with a group of girlfriends as I do with a male companion even at night

strongly disagree1-2-3-4-5-6-7 strongly agree

18 In your opinion, do you think that the girl herself is the cause for harassment?

1. Yes 2. Sometimes

3. No (Go to Q20)

19 If yes or Sometimes, what are the reasons for female har-assment? (Tick all applicable)

1. Wearing tight clothes

2. Indecent behavior of the girl

3. Putting make-up in a provoc-ative way

4. Non-compliance with con-



ventional customs and tradi-tions

5. The way girls walk

6. The way girls talk

7. Lack of discipline when rais-ing girls

8. Girls do not conform to reli-gious ethics with regard to their appearance

20 Do you believe that are no excuses or circumstances that justify inappropriate behavior towards women and girls?

1. Yes 2. No

21 Please estimate the age groups of the people who have harassed you are (circle all that apply):

1. Less than 11

2. 12 years to 17 years

3. 18-24

4. 25-29

5. 30-39

6. 40-49

7. 50-59

8. 60 and more

22 How does street harassment/ harassment make you feel? (Tick all applicable)

1. Angry

2. Afraid

3. Guilty

4. Shame

5. Confusion

6. Anxiety

7. Depression

8. Loss of self esteem

9. Feeling of humiliation

10. Feeling of hopelessness

11. Disappointed

12. Hope to have someone to talk

13. Nothing

23 Have you ever reacted/ taken action when someone has harassed you?

1. Yes 2. No

24 If yes, How do/did you react when you experience/d street harassment? (? (Tick all applicable)

1. Ignoring

2. Responding verbally

3. Responding physically

4. Responding with body lan-



guage

5. Reporting to police

6. Call your brother or your fa-ther

7. Seeking help from bystanders

8. Running away

9. Other (Specify__________)

25 If no, Why you didn't take action when someone has harassed you? (Tick all applicable)

1. This is a common occurrence that happens to anyone

2. I was afraid of people’s reac-tion

3. The community blames the woman

4. I was afraid of the impact it could have on my reputation

5. There is no one I can turn to

6. I was afraid of harassment in the police station

7. I thought the police would never help or believe me

8. I believed nobody would help me

9. There were no witnesses

10. Fearing the harasser


26 Has anyone ever helped you when you were being har-assed?

1. Yes 2. No (Go to 28)

27 If yes, how? (Tick all applicable)

1. Called the Police

2. Confronted the harasser

3. Call your brother or your fa-ther

4. Calling Male Relative/Friend

5. Got support from people around

28 Are there laws against street harassment/ harassment?

1. Yes there is

2. No, there isn’t

3. I don’t know

29

Many women often take precautionary measures to en-sure their safety. Please tick the precautions you take/ your family asks you to take for your safety as a wom-an.(Tick all applicable)

1. I do not take any precautions as I feel safe in the city.

2. Avoid certain public spaces.

3. Avoid going out alone after



dark

4. Avoid going out alone

5. Avoid wearing certain clothes, which may seem pro-vocative

6. Carry items such as pepper spray/ safety pins etc


30 In your opinion, what should be done to prevent and respond to street harassed / harassed? (Tick all applicable)

1. Awareness campaigns involv-ing all Stakeholders

2. Use the media, especially ra-dio (sending messages to taxi drivers and focusing on sanc-tions)

3. Increase security personnel, especially in areas where har-assment occurs

4. Place cameras with display screens in places where harass-ment often occurs

5. Increase security with civil clothes in places where harass-ment often occurs

6. Hotline to receive harassment complaints

7. Lighting on all the streets and focusing on the narrow streets and markets

8. Impose stiff punishment (community works and mone-tary fine)

9. establishment of a shelter for battered women

10. Modifying the curriculum to include human rights and equality

11. Schools to become mixed for all levels

12. Female taxi drivers

13. Other (specify___________)

31 In your opinion, what should be done for women to stop street harassed / harassed on the streets

1. Educate women about their rights



2. Educate women on the im-portance of making a complaint

3. self-defense courses for girls, as well as building their self-confidence


32 In your opinion, what should be done for men to stop harassment on the streets

1. Educate young men to respect the freedom of others

2. Military service for young men

3. Establishment of a govern-ment youth centers

4. Place the driver's name and car’s number with a clear handwriting inside taxi




APPENDIX II: DATA ANALYSIS

A-1: GENERAL ANALYSIS

A-2: CROSS-ANALYSIS BY AGE, EDUCATION LEVEL & MARITAL STATUS



A-1: GENERAL ANALYSIS

What is your Age?

What is the highest level of education you have com-pleted?

%, 1. 15 to 25 Years, 41.4,

41%

%, 2. 26 to 39 Years, 36.2,

36%

%, 3. 40 to 50 Years, 17.5,

18%

%, 4. More than 50, 4.7, 5%

1. 15 to 25 Years

2. 26 to 39 Years

3. 40 to 50 Years

4. More than 50

%, Illiterate, 1.9, 2%

%, Primary EducaEon, 4.3, 6%

%, Secondary EducaEon, 17.9,

24%

%, Diploma, 26.1, 35%

%, First University

Degree, 23.3, 31%

%, Higher or Post Graduate EducaEon, 1.9,

2%

%, Currently a student, 0, 0% Illiterate

Primary Education

Secondary Education

Diploma

First University Degree

Higher or Post Graduate Education

Currently a student



What is your Occupation?

What is your marital sta-tus?

Do you use Public trans-portation? 68% Yes

%, Unemployed, 17.9, 18%

%, Self-‐employed, 4.5, 5%

%, Public Servant, 33.7,

34%

%, Private Sector, 20.4,

20%

%, ReEred, 1.9, 2%

%, Enrolled at School_School and University,

21, 21%

%, Others Specify, 0, 0%

%, Decline to answer, 0.4, 0% Unemployed

Self-employed

Public Servant

Private Sector

Retired

Enrolled at School_School and University

Others Specify

Series1, Single, 49.2, 49% Series1,

Married, 44.4, 45%

Series1, Widowed, 2.3, 2%

Series1, Separated, 0.2, 0%

Series1, Divorced, 1.2,

1%

Series1, Decline to answer, 2.5,

3%

Single

Married

Widowed

Separated

Divorced

Decline to answer

%, Bus, 68.3, 68%

%, Taxi, 31.5, 32%

Bus

Taxi



Have you been street har-assed or harassed or some-one you know such as friend, neighbor, sister, daughter, by men in a pub-lic space such as market, bus stop, roadside, in the bus, in the taxi, at a Mall etc in the last year? 80% yes

What kinds of harassment have you or she faced?

At what time(s) of the day have you/she faced street harassment or harassment?

%, Road side, 68.9, 15%

%, Bus stop, 18.37, 4%

%, Bus , 26.8, 6%

%, Taxi stop, 15.96, 4%

%, Taxi , 42.46, 9%

%, Market, 85.84, 19% %, Parks,

43.07, 9%

%, Mall, 27.4, 6%

%, Alley, 32.53, 7%

%, Through cellular phones , 36.74, 8%

%, Dresses areas, 15.36, 3%

%, Near school, 20.18, 4%

%, Near University, 12.43, 3%

%, Near Workplace, 11.14, 3%

%, other Specify, 0.3, 0% Road side

Bus stop

Bus

Taxi stop

Taxi

Market

Parks

Mall

Alley

Through cellular phones

Dresses areas

Series1, Comments, 70.2, 30%

Series1, Whistling, 24.7, 11%

Series1, Touchong, 29.2,

12%

Series1, Staring, 54.9, 23%

Series1, Waving, 17.3, 7%

Series1, Stalking or car follow up,

40.1, 17%

Series1, Kudnapping,

0.6, 0%

Series1, Other Specify, 0.4, 0%

Comments

Whistling

Touchong

Staring

Waving

Stalking or car follow up

Kudnapping

Other Specify

Series1, Morning from 6 to 11 am, 34,

22%

Series1, During day from 12 to 5 pm, 64.4, 41%

Series1, Evening from 6 to 10 pm, 39.1, 25%

Series1, Late of night aêr 10pm , 19.1,

12%

Morning from 6 to 11 am

During day from 12 to 5 pm

Evening from 6 to 10 pm

Late of night after 10pm



Who harassed you or she?

Age at first street harass-ment or street harassment

In your opinion, what are the frequency of women’s street harassment / har-assment experiences?

A. Catcalls, whistles, or stares

Series1, Colleagues, 6.6,

3%

Series1, Policemen and security forces, 7.6,

4%

Series1, Shop owenrs, 22.4,

12%

Series1, Workers and Hand Cra^smen, 21.8, 11%

Series1, Drivers such as Bus driver Taxi drivers, 40.3, 21%

Series1, Schools or university students, 21.2, 11%

Series1, Unemployed, 63.2, 32%

Series1, RelaEves or friends, 8,

4%

Series1, Others Specify, 4.3, 2%

Colleagues

Policemen and security forces

Shop owenrs

Workers and Hand Craftsmen

Drivers such as Bus driver Taxi drivers

Schools or university students

Unemployed

Series1, Less than 15 years, 29.4, 38%

Series1, 15 to 25 Years, 31.3,

40%

Series1, 26 to 39 Years, 3.1, 4%

Series1, 40 to 50 Years, 0.6, 1%

Series1, More than 50 Years, 0.2, 0%

Series1, I don’t Remember, 13.4, 17%

Less than 15 years

15 to 25 Years

26 to 39 Years

40 to 50 Years

More than 50 Years

I don’t Remember

Series1, Never happened, 5.3,

5%

Series1, Rarely, 17.7, 18%

Series1, Once a month, 9.5, 10%

Series1, Twice a month, 11.1,

11%

Series1, Every few days or

more, 56, 56%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month





B. Unwanted attention


C. Crude or offensive jokes


D. Sexist remarks or be-haviors

Series1, Never happened, 23,

23%


Series1, Once a month, 11.7,

12%

Series1, Twice a

month, 11.5, 12%


more, 25.1, 25%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month



29%

Series1, Rarely, 31.9, 32% Series1,

Once a month, 11.9,

12%

Series1, Twice a month, 8.4, 8%


more, 18.5, 19%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month



26%

Series1, Rarely, 37.7, 38% Series1,

Once a month, 8.8,

9%



more, 20, 20%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month





E. Seductive remarks or come ons


F. Unwanted touching


G. Direct pressure to co-operate improperly


34%

Series1, Rarely, 36, 36%

Series1, Once a

month, 5.1, 5%



more, 16.5, 17%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month



38%


Series1, Once a month, 5.3, 5%


Series1, Every few days or more,

11.1, 11% Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month



69%


Series1, Once a

month, 1.2, 1%


Series1, Every few days or more, 1.2, 1%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month





H. Forceful fondling or grabbing

In your opinion, do you think that the girl herself is the cause for harass-ment?67% yes

Do you believe that are no excuses or circumstances that justify inappropriate behavior towards women and girls?59% yes

Please estimate the age groups of the people who have harassed you are


68%


Series1, Once a

month, 2.7, 3%


Series1, Every few days or more, 3.3, 3%

Never happened

Rarely

Once a month

Twice a month


Series1, Wearing Eght clothes, 71.07,

20%

Series1, Indecent

behavior of the girl, 64.3, 18%

Series1, The way girls walk, 46.46, 13%

Series1, Non compliance

with convenEonal customs and tradiEons, 40,

11%

Series1, Pu`ng make-‐up in a provocaEve

way, 36.61, 10%

Series1, The way girls talk, 44.3, 12%

Series1, Lack of discipline when raising girls , 36,

10%

Series1, Girls do not conform to religious ethics with regard to

their appearance, 19.38, 6%

Wearing tight clothes

Indecent behavior of the girl

The way girls walk

Non compliance with conventional customs and traditions Putting make-up in a provocative way

The way girls talk

Lack of discipline when raising girls

Girls do not conform to religious ethics with regard to their appearance

Series1, Less than 11, 4.84,

1%

Series1, 12 years to 17 years, 57.43, 13% Series1, 18-‐24,

110.03, 24%

Series1, 25-‐29, 86.15, 19%

Series1, 30-‐39, 80.27, 17%

Series1, 40-‐49, 44.63, 10%

Series1, 50-‐59,

47.4, 10%

Series1, 60 and more, 20.06, 4%

Series1, I don't know, 9.34, 2%

Less than 11

12 years to 17 years

18-24

25-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60 and more

I don't know



How does street harass-ment or street harassment make you feel?

Have you ever reacted/ taken action when some-one has harassed you?58% yes

Have you ever reacted/ taken action when some-one has harassed you?42% No.

Why you didn't take action when someone has har-assed you?

Series1, Angry, 68.3, 27%

Series1, Afraid, 30, 12%

Series1, Guilty, 7, 3% Series1, Shame,

17.7, 7%

Series1, Confusion, 11.1, 4%

Series1, Anxiety, 17.1, 7%

Series1, Depression, 15.6, 6%

Series1, Loss of self

esteem, 11.7, 4%

Series1, Feeling of humiliaEon, 15.6, 6%

Series1, Feeling of

hopelessness, 12.3, 5%

Series1, Disappointed, 34.8, 14%

Series1, Hope to have

someone to talk, 8, 3%

Series1, Nothing, 4.9, 2%

Angry

Afraid

Guilty

Shame

Confusion

Anxiety

Depression

Loss of self esteem

Feeling of humiliation

Feeling of hopelessness

Disappointed

Series1, Ignoring, 46.45,

25%

Series1, Responding

verbally, 80.14, 43%

Series1, Responding

physically, 23.4, 13%

Series1, Responding with body language, 9.21, 5%

Series1, ReporEng to

police, 6.02, 3%

Series1, Call your brother

or your father, 5.67,

3%

Series1, Seeking help from bystanders, 5.41, 3%

Series1, Running

away, 9.21, 5%

Ignoring

Responding verbally

Responding physically

Responding with body language

Reporting to police


Seeking help from bystanders

Series1, This is a common

occurrence that happens to

anyone, 38.61, 15%

Series1, I was afraid of people’s reacEon, 50.49, 19%

Series1, The community blames the

woman, 48.01, 18%

Series1, I was afraid of the

impact it could have on my reputaEon, 41.58, 16%

Series1, There is no one I can turn to, 13.68,

5%

Series1, I was afraid of harassment in the police staEon, 13.38, 5%

Series1, I thought the police would never help or believe

me, 7.92, 3%

Series1, I believed

nobody would help me, 10.39,

4%

Series1, There were no

witnesses, 5.94, 2%

Series1, Fearing the harasser , 25.74, 10%

Series1, Others Specify, 7.42,

3% This is a common occurrence that happens to anyone

I was afraid of people’s reaction

The community blames the woman

I was afraid of the impact it could have on my reputation

There is no one I can turn to

I was afraid of harassment in the police station

I thought the police would never help or believe me



Has anyone ever helped you when you were being harassed?30% yes

Are there laws against street harassment/ harass-ment?

Many women often take precautionary measures to ensure their safety. Please tick the precautions you take or your family asks you to take for your safety as a woman

Series1, Called the Police, 7.74,

6%

Series1, Confronted the harasser, 41.45,

34%

Series1, Call your brother or your father, 16.9, 14%

Series1, Calling Male RelaEve or Friend , 11.62,

10%

Series1, Got support from people around, 43.66, 36% Called the Police

Confronted the harasser


Calling Male Relative or Friend

Got support from people around

Series1, Yes there is, 20.8,

21%

Series1, No, there isn’t, 44.2, 44%

Series1, I don’t know, 34.6,

35% Yes there is

No, there isn’t

I don’t know

Series1, I do not take any precauEons as I feel safe in the city., 17.3, 8%

Series1, Avoid certain public spaces,

56.8, 25%

Series1, Avoid going out alone aêr dark, 52.9,

23%

Series1, Avoid going out alone,

34.6, 15%

Series1, Avoid wearing certain clothes, which may seem provocaEve, 59.5, 26%

Series1, Carry items such as pepper spray or safety pins etc,

7.2, 3%

I do not take any precautions as I feel safe in the city.

Avoid certain public spaces

Avoid going out alone after dark

Avoid going out alone

Avoid wearing certain clothes, which may seem provocative

Carry items such as pepper spray or safety pins etc



In your opinion, what should be done to prevent and respond to harass-ment?

In your opinion, what should be done for women to stop harassment on the streets?

Series1, Awareness campaigns involving all Stakeholders,

53.3, 9%

Series1, Use the media,

especially radio (sending

messages to taxi drivers and focusing on

sancEons), 49, 9%

Series1, Increase security

personnel, especially in areas where harassment occurs, 54.9,

10%

Series1, Place cameras with display screens in places where harassment oên occurs, 55.8, 10%

Series1, Increase

security with civil clothes in places where harassment oên occurs,

50, 9%

Series1, Hotline to receive harassment complaints, 42.2, 7%

Series1, LighEng on all the

streets and focusing on the narrow streets and markets, 48.8, 9%

Series1, Impose sEff punishment (community works and

monetary fine), 62.3, 11%

Series1, establishment of a shelter for

bafered women, 31.7,

6%

Series1, Modifying the curriculum to include human rights and

equality, 40.3, 7%

Series1, Schools to become

mixed for all levels, 31.3,

5%

Series1, Female taxi drivers, 10.82, 2%

Series1, Other specify, 35.6,

6%

Awareness campaigns involving all Stakeholders

Use the media, especially radio (sending messages to taxi drivers and focusing on sanctions) Increase security personnel, especially in areas where harassment occurs

Place cameras with display screens in places where harassment often occurs

Increase security with civil clothes in places where harassment often occurs

Hotline to receive harassment complaints

Lighting on all the streets and focusing on the narrow streets and markets

Impose stiff punishment (community works and monetary fine)

establishment of a shelter for battered women

Modifying the curriculum to include human rights and equality

Series1, Educate women about their rights, 68.5,

35%

Series1, Educate

women on the

importance of making a complaint, 56.2, 29%

Series1, self-‐defense courses for girls, as well as building their self confidence,

65.4, 33%

Series1, Other specify, 5.3, 3%

Educate women about their rights

Educate women on the importance of making a complaint

self-defense courses for girls, as well as building their self confidence

Other specify



In your opinion, what should be done for men to stop harassment on the streets?

Series1, Educate

young men to respect the freedom of others, 76.7, 35%

Series1, Military service for young men , 35.4, 16%

Series1, Establishment

of a government youth centers, 42.6, 20%

Series1, Place the driver's

name and car’s number with a

clear handwriEng

inside taxi, 59.1, 27%

Series1, Other specify, 5.1, 2% Educate young men to respect

the freedom of others

Military service for young men

Establishment of a government youth centers

Place the driver's name and car’s number with a clear handwriting inside taxi

Other specify



A-2: CROSS-ANALYSIS BY AGE, EDUCATION LEVEL & MARITAL STATUS

In an attempt to better study the extent of harassment and its impacts on women, an additional cross-analysis was carried out to explore how differently do various types of women experience, react and deal with incidents of public street harassment. Accordingly, further analysis were divided based on age groups, education level as well as marital status with the aim of investigating how women from different groups perceive harassment. The following matrix summarizes the obtained results.



1. ANALYSIS BY AGE

Question Age Group 1 (15-25) Age Group 2 (26-39) Age Group 3 (40& above)

Q.9 Have you been street harassed or harassed or someone you know such as friend, neighbor ,sister, daughter, by men, by age group

For this age group, the majority of the respond-ents reported that they have been assaulted themselves while 11% stated that they know of someone who has. Nearly 15% indicated that they have never been harassed.

According to the litera-ture concerning street harassment, this age group is considered the most vulnerable to har-assment as the women are usually younger and more targeted by igno-rant men. Furthermore, this groups includes women through various stages of their lives such as high school and uni-versity, which tend to suffer from harassment problems.

A smaller portion of this group indicated that they have experi-enced assault with 61%, while 14% knew of women who have. Moreover, a larger por-tion than the previous age group reported that they have not experi-enced or knew of someone that has been.

The women of this age group tend to be more independent, experi-enced, confident and able to hold their own. This is why, they may be less vulnerable to harassment, yet they are still targeted espe-cially that most of them are probably in the workforce and might get home from work at later hours.

This group had the smallest percentage (50%) out of the three age groups of women who reported experi-encing assault. About 20% knew of people who were assaulted, and 29% answered no to the question.

Similar to the previous groups, older women are less vulnerable to assault because they are able to deal with it and because most men tend to chase after younger women. Nevertheless, the percentage of har-assed women that they knew of was larger be-cause they may be their younger daughters or sisters who are in the more vulnerable group.




Q.10 If Yes, Where have you/she been street harassed / harassed?

Around 42% of the women who reported that they were assaulted in the overall total of the places belonged to this age group. Moreover, these women have indi-cated some of the places where they have been assaulted. About 48% reported being harassed in parks followed by 48% that indicated being assaulted in malls as well. Other places that were mentioned includ-ed: near the university (46%), the roadside (46%), Taxis (43%) as well as alleys (38%).

This is not surprising because women of this age group tend to be going to various places by different modes of transportation. They are also more likely to be going out to different areas at different times, which may expose them to more incidents of harassment. Moreover,

Nearly 37% of the total women who answered yes belonged to this group. Some of the main places of occur-ring street harassment, which were identified by these women, in-cluded: the bus stop (46%), near the schools (49%), Taxi stop (42%) and the alleys (42%).

The percentage is close to the previous age group because the working women of this group might work late hours and have to take different kinds of transportation to cross various areas to get to their work, which is why they are also prone to assault.

The smallest percentage of the respondents be-longed to this age group as they constitut-ed 21% of the total pool of respondents. About 28% of them indicated that they have experi-enced harassment on the bus and on Taxi stops, while 27% have been assaulted near the workplace. Other places were deserted areas (24%).

Similar to the previous question, the results indicate that this age groups is less prone to street harassment and assault; nevertheless, it is still important not to disregard that there are a smaller percentage of them who have been/are being assault-ed.




Q. 11 What kind(s) of harassment have you/she faced?

Nearly, 46% of respond-ents stated they had faced all of the different types of street harass-ment listed on the sur-vey. Furthermore, around 47% of respond-ents indicated they had been subjected to street harassment in the form of comments. Other common forms of har-assment include; stalk-ing (49%), staring (48%), whistling (47%) and touching (47%),

Such results may be ex-plained by the fact that women in this age group are more likely to be going to various places by different forms of transportation, making them more vul-nerable to these types of street harassment

Women in this age group constituted 32% of the total respondents to this question. More-over, 36% stated they had faced assault in the form of waving where-as 35% suffered from harassment through comments. Other forms included stalking (32%) and staring (31%)

Around 21% of re-spondents to this ques-tion stated they had faced the different types of street harassment listed on the survey. The most common form of assault that was ex-perienced by women in this group is waving (26%) followed by touching (23%) and whistling (22%).




Q.12 At what time(s) of the day have you/she faced street harassment / har-assment?

In the goal of better identifying the times with the most incidents of harassment, respond-ents were asked about the times of their as-sault. The largest per-centage of women (44%) who indicated their as-sault in general were part of this group. The morning and during the day seemed to be the times when most of the women in this group experienced assault with 46% response rate for each option.

Women who are still in universities all always out of their classes at different times during the day, which is why they might be more like-ly to experience assault than other age groups.

A smaller percentage of 34% of women who answered yes to this question belonged to this age group. Out of these women around 36% reported being harassed late at night while 35% did during the evening time.

Women in this age group represented around 22% of the overall number of re-spondents. Moreover, 36% indicated experi-enced harassment late at night while 21% re-ferred to the morning and the evening as times of assault as well.

The results of this ques-tion are consistent with most of the others indi-cating that younger women are more sus-ceptible to street har-assment than their old-er counterparts.




Q.13 Who harassed you/she? (Tick all applicable)

Question thirteen was aimed identifying the type of harasser that threatens women and this matrix attempts to pinpoint whether there is variation of the type of harasser depending on the age. Moreover, when women were asked to check all types that apply in general, nearly 46% of the re-spondents belonged to this age group. This is yet another example that this age group is the most vulnerable out of the three. The most frequent types of har-assers for these women included: policemen (57%), schools or uni-versity students (54%) as well as drivers 46%.

Women in this age group may be more like-ly to encounter police-man and security forces in their daily lives ie. Through campus securi-ty or encountering po-lice on the street. They are also more likely to encounter other work-men or drivers through their daily commute. This is a possible expla-nation for the high rate of street harassment they are subjected to.

Around 33% of the total respondents who an-swered yes to this ques-tion belonged to this age group. Further-more, 37% reported being harassed by their colleagues followed by 35% indicating being assaulted by shop own-ers, workers and hand craftsmen and 34% were harassed by the unemployed.

The smallest percent-age of 21% belonged to this age group out of the total pool of re-spondents. These wom-en have been mostly harassed by their rela-tives or friends (33%) followed by policemen and security forces (27%) as well as hop owners (23%).




Q.14 Age at first street harassment / harassment/ By Age

The majority of the total number of respondents (61%) reported that they have first experienced street harassment be-tween the ages of 15-25.

Much like the previous questions, this result is indicative of the fact that this age group is usually the most vul-nerable and susceptible to street harassment.

Only 3% reported that they have first experi-enced harassment be-tween the ages of 26-39.

This may be due to the fact that most women experience at a younger age or when they are a bit older. This age group is usually charac-terized by working women who can hold themselves against as-sault.

The second largest share of the respond-ents indicated that they have first experienced harassment at 40 or older.

This result may be due to the fact that some of these women could be either divorced or wid-owed or even referred to as “spinsters”. There-fore, they are seen as more vulnerable to as-sault.

Q18. In your opin-ion, do you think that the girl herself is the cause for har-assment? All Ages

The largest portion of women who answered this question (57%) be-lieved that sometimes the girl is the cause of the harassment whereas 33% believed that the girl is not the problem. Moreover, 10% indicat-ed that the girl is almost always the cause for harassment.

Q18. In your opin-ion, do you think that the girl herself is the cause for har-assment? Analyzed according to differ-ent age groups

This question is ana-lyzed according to spe-cific to the three age groups in order to get an idea of whether each group perceived the girl as the cause for harass-ment or not.

Furthermore, the largest portion of this age group (59%) indicated that the girl is some-times the cause of har-assment whereas 36% did not believe so. Only 5% answered that the

Similar to the previous age group, around 57% of the women in this group believed that the girl is sometimes the problem, while 32% did not agree with that. Moreover, 11% indicat-ed that the girl is al-ways to blame for as-sault.

It is distressing that this age group would come up with such a result, because one would ex-

In slightly closer per-centages, the women of this group share a simi-lar view as the previous age groups with the majority indicating that the girl is sometimes responsible for being harassed (54%). Nearly 30% believed that the girl is never responsible for assault while 16% believed the contrary.




girl is always the cause for assault.

One of the reasons as to why the majority an-swered sometimes could be attributed to the fact that this is what most of these young women are taught. They are probably always told in their schools, homes and universities that immodest clothing or behavior causes har-assment and that is why they believed it.

pect that educated old-er women would not blame women for get-ting harassed on the streets.

Q22/How does street harassment/ harassment make you feel? Feelings specified for each group

This question was ana-lyzed in the attempt to identify how each group felt about street harass-ment. The percentages of the feelings that women of this age group experienced about street assault are fairly close to each oth-er; nevertheless, there are a couple that are worth highlighting.

The largest share of the-se women felt anxious about harassment with a percentage of 49%. The second highest percent-age as disappointed felt by these women with 46%. Around 41% of them felt angry about the situation while the percentages for shame, depression and humilia-tion were very close

The two prevalent feel-ings that women of this age group experience with regards to street harassment are guilt and the need to talk to someone with 49% for each category. These were followed by feel-ings of loss of self-esteem (42%), confusion (42%), hopelessness (38%) and depression (41%).

It is distressing that more women of this age group are distraught by their experiences of street harassment. Most of their feelings they experience correlate with their belief that the girl is responsible for the assault, which is why they feel a sense of

One of the most inter-esting percentages about this age group is that the highest share of them (38%) reported feeling nothing about street harassment. Such an interesting indica-tion might be due either to feeling of despair where these women have just given up on the situation and stopped caring about it to even experience any feelings. Moreover, oth-er prevalent feelings included hopelessness (30%), humiliation, shame and loss of self-esteem (26%) and guilt as well (24%).

There is a big emphasis on feelings of guilt and shame, which are




with 39%, 39% and 37% respectively.

Anxiety and fear are completely normal and expected feeling that accompany experiences of harassment to young women. The high per-centage for disappoint-ment is a good measure for how some of these girls are shocked with these incidents and completely disappoint-ed in the results. It is also interesting that feel-ings of shame, confu-sion and humiliation are close and high in per-centage. This is related to the fact that majority of women in this group believed that the girl could be responsible for harassment sometimes. Therefore, some of them may believe that they are the cause, which is what they are ashamed and depressed about that.

shame, guilt and loss of self-esteem. They be-lieve that they are do-ing something wrong; yet they do not know what that is; thereby, generating a sense of hopelessness and the need to talk to someone about it.

products of despair and hopelessness that de-rive from not being able to solve an issue or deal with it. That is why most of these women are blaming themselves for what is happening to them

Q.24 Have you ever reacted/ taken action when someone has harassed you? Ac-cording to age group

This question analysis is aimed at identifying how different age groups react to harass-ment.

Respondents from this group constituted (67%) of the total respondents who indicated that they would seek help from bystanders. This was followed by 56% report-

Nearly 38% of the women who reported calling their father or brother belonged to this age group and that was the largest percentage for a reaction to har-assment. Following this result was ignoring the assault with 37%, re-porting to the police (38%), responding ver-bally and physically

The percentages in this group are lower, which is similar to the case in other questions. Wom-en in this group consti-tuted 31% of the total number of women who indicated that they would respond by run-ning away. This was followed by 27% who said they would re-spond through body




ing that they would call their father or sibling. Nearly 53% stated that they would report to the police while another 51% of women, who indicated that they would react physically belonged to this group.

Due to their young age, it is expected that most of these women/girls are seeking help from other people or male figures as well police officers. This also corre-lates with the high per-centage that reported being harassed by a po-lice officer.

with 32%/

Similar to the previous age group, more wom-en tend to ask for help from male figures in the family or the police. The main difference is in ignoring the assault, which may be correlat-ed with experiencing many incidents over time and finally not wanting to deal with them because of the disappointment that it won’t solve the main issue.

language and 24% who would respond verbal-ly.

Women of this age group tend not to de-pend or rely on male figures around them due to their older age and independence. Therefore, they use lighter ways of re-sponding verbally or through their body lan-guage or even by run-ning away not to en-danger themselves.

Q. 28 Are there laws against street har-assment/ harass-ment?

When asked about the existence of laws against street harassment, the majority of the women within this age group (49%) stated there are no laws that deal with harassment whereas 17% indicated that there are ones that do.

The reason behind such results could be due to young and ignorance of the laws.

Similarly, the largest portion of women in this group (43%) also believed that are no laws concerning public street harassment while 22% knew of them.

The percentages for the women in this group were closer than in the other groups as 38% believed that no laws existed while 26% did.

While the larger share did not believe that laws existed but it was less than the other age groups. This could be due to the fact that with age, more women will become familiar with these laws as their ex-periences with such incidents increase.





2. ANALYSIS BY EDUCATION LEVEL

Question Level 1 (primary and sec-ondary)

Level 2 (Diploma, universi-ty and post graduate)

Level 3 ( currently student)

Q9. Have you been street harassed or har-assed or someone you know such as friend, neighbor, sister, daugh-ter, by men

Nearly 66% of women who finished up to prima-ry or secondary school reported that they have been street harassed. Around 17% knew of someone who did while the rest did not experience nor knew of anyone who had. While the education can be somewhat of an indica-tor of susceptibility to as-sault, the results of the three levels are very simi-lar, which illustrates that women of all education level are in equal threat of experiencing street har-assment.

Respondents, who belonged to this education level, had a very similar result to the previous group. The majori-ty of the women (61%) re-ported getting harassed while 13% knew of some-one who was. Around 26% answered no to this ques-tion. The susceptibility of these women to experiencing high incidents of harass-ment rises from the fact that university campuses are usually home for public harassment.

When this question was asked to women who be-longed to this education level, around 70% of them indicat-ed that they themselves have been assaulted whereas 13% knew of someone who was. About 17% stated them nor someone they knew were harassed. This education level indicates that the respondents are still young and more vulnerable to incidents of assault. This would explain why the ma-jority have been assaulted or knew of someone who was.






Q.10 If Yes, Where have you/she been street harassed / har-assed?

This question was ana-lyzed according to differ-ent education levels with the attempt to understand where women from dif-ferent levels experience harassment most. Women in this level indicated that they most experienced harassment on taxi stop (37% out of total number respondents) followed by Bus stop (34%), deserted areas (29%) and in Alleys (28%).

What is interesting about this education level is the fact that the majority of the women who answered each branch of this question were part of this level group. Out of these high percentages, four main spots stood out as primary locations for assault; near the work place with 78% followed by harassment through cell phone (55%), Buses and parks with 52% for each location. The results obtained for this education level can be at-tributed to the fact that a college or a post graduate degree allows women to enter the workforce; there-by, increasing their suscep-tibility to incidents of as-sault either in the work place or on their way to their jobs.

When comparing the per-centages of women in this group to the previous groups, this level seemed to lean more towards the average percentages. Nevertheless, there were a couple of places that stood out as highlighted red areas for women in this group. Around 52% of the total number of respondents who indicated being assault-ed near schools belonged to this group. This was followed by 51% near the university, 37% at the malls and 27% near alleys, roadsides and the market place. Due to the generality of this education level, this group encompasses a wider range of students from different ages. This is why there is a higher percentages that experience assault near schools and uni-versities. Moreover, since most students tend to go out to the mall, parks and market, there seems to be a higher percentage of harassment reported there.

Q.11 What kind(s) of harassment have you/she faced?

When the female re-spondents were asked to report the kinds of har-assment they have faced previously, around 26% of the total pool belonged to this education level. Fur-thermore, when asked to specify the different types, waving stood out for this group with 35% of the respondents followed by whistling 31%, touching 30% and finally stalking with 25%.

Similar to the previous question, women in this level group constituted the majority for almost all of the questions that specified the type of harassment faced on the streets. Moreo-ver, harassments through waving was the most com-mon form of assault (49%) that this group experienced. Other forms such as com-ments, staring and whis-tling were also very fre-quent with percentages of 48%, 48% and 45% respec-tively.

Respondents from this age group constituted around 27% of the total pool of wom-en who answered the ques-tion. Furthermore, these women were more prone to experience harassment through stalking or a car fol-low-up (30%) followed by comments and staring 28% as well as assault through touch-ing with 27%. It could be inferred from the-se analyses that women of all education levels are prone to the same types of street har-assment.

Q.12 At what time(s) of A smaller percentage When this question was Having the lowest percent-






the day have you/she faced street harassment / harassment?

(26%) of the total number of women from this group answered this question. About 34% indicated that late nights starting 10pm is the most unsafe time whereas 30% believed that evenings from 6pm-10pm had more incidents of as-sault.

asked the total pool of the respondents, the women in this education level consti-tuted the majority with 50%. Moreover, 54% speci-fied that in the morning from 6-11 am is the peak of harassment while 51% that late at night (starting from 10pm), the incidents of as-sault increase. Nevertheless, the percentages for during the day or the evening were also close to these percent-ages.

ages of all three groups, 24% of these women answered this question as 29% of them reported that they have expe-rienced assault during the day from 12-5pm. Around 22% stated that evenings were also unsafe for them, and another 21% indicated that they have been harassed during the mornings as well. Different education groups had different ideas about which times were the most unsafe for them. Some of the reasons for the variance in their response are due to their daily schedule and the times they are on the streets. For example, working women reported being assaulted in the morning (before they went to work). On the other hand, current students stated that they have been assaulted during the day, which could be harassment in schools/universities.

Q.13 Who harassed you/she?

The analysis of this ques-tion seeks to identify how the three educational groups experience har-assment by different types of harassers. Women who completed up to the primary or sec-ondary level constituted around 24% of the total number of respondents who have answered this question. Nearly 41% of them indicated that they have been assaulted by a relative or a friend where-as 28% stated they have been harassed by a col-league. Another 28% pointed out that police-men and security forces do harass women as well

Similar to the previous questions, women who are part of this education level were the largest share of 50% in general while they also constituted the majori-ty for each part of this ques-tion. shop owners were the highest group as harassers for this group as 53% demonstrated. Moreover 51% reported that they have been assaulted by workers and hand craftsmen while another 51% stated that they have experienced har-assment by relatives or friends.

Holding the least percentages out of the three groups, women of this educational level were about 26% of the total pool of respondents. Furthermore, around 33% of them indicated that they were harassed by colleagues and another 33% were harassed by policemen. Assaults by drivers, school or university students as well as the unem-ployed were the three other main categories reported by these women with 28% for each category.

Q.14 Age at first street harassment / harass-

Nearly 23% of the total respondents who an-

The largest share of women (52%) who talked about

Women in this education group constituted around






ment swered the question about their first experience of harassment were part of this education level.

their first assault experience belonged to this education level.

25% of the total pool of re-spondents for this question.

Q.18 In your opinion, do you think that the girl herself is the cause for harassment?

Nearly 54% of the women in this education level be-lieved that the girl is sometimes responsible for her assault while 30% did not agree. 16% reported that the girl is always to be blamed for her harass-ment.

When women with this ed-ucational level were asked whether the girl is respon-sible for her assault or not, around 57% stated that the girl is to be blamed some-times while 35% did not think it was her fault. Nev-ertheless, 10% indicated that the girl is responsible for her assault.

Nearly 60% of current stu-dents indicated that the girl could be blamed for her har-assment experience some-times whereas 37% of them disagreed. Only 3%stated that the girl should always be blamed for the assault.

Q.22 How do street harassment/ harass-ment make you feel?

Nearly 23% of the total pool of respondents for this question belonged to this education level. When these women were asked about the way harassment makes them feel, a couple of emotions were high-lighted. 29% indicated that they feel depressed while 28% said they would lose their self-esteem. Other highlighted emotions were the feeling of humil-iation (27%), Anxiety (26%) and the feeling of hopelessness (26%).

Similar to most of the pre-vious questions, women of this level constituted the majority of the total re-spondents. For this question they represented around 50%. The largest share of them (59%) felt confused about street harassment followed by feeling of hope-lessness (57%), the need to talk to someone about it (57%) as well as the feeling of guilt (56%)

Out of the 27% of this educa-tion group that have an-swered this question, around 45% felt anxious about street harassment. Moreover, 34% felt afraid while 29% felt ashamed by it. Other high-lighted emotions including humiliation (29%) as well as disappointment (29%).

Q.24 Have you ever reacted/ taken action when someone has harassed you?

The analysis of this ques-tion seeks to identify how women from different ed-ucation levels reacted dif-ferently to incidents of harassment. Around 35% of the women from this group, who have an-swered this question, in-dicated that they would run away. 32% said they would react through their body language while 31% would report to the police.

Nearly 56% of the women from this group, who have answered this question, re-ported that they would call their brother or their father for help. This was followed by 54% who said they would respond physically and another 52% would respond verbally. Ignoring harassment was also a common reaction with 52% of the respondents indicat-ing that they would react that way. Some of these women are working or could be a bit older and more confident to hold their own, which is why they are more likely to respond to their harasser

Similar to other questions, this group constituted the smallest percentages out of the three groups as they rep-resented 26% of the total pool of respondents for this ques-tion. Some of the reactions these women pointed out in-cluded seeking help from by-standers (47%), responding with their body language (32%), responding verbally (26%) and physically (25%).






either verbally or physically unlike the majority of the primary level group who would run away or the ma-jority of the current stu-dents who would seek help from bystanders.

Q.28 Are there laws against street harass-ment/ harassment?

When this question was asked to women of this group, around 43% be-lieved that there are not any laws against harass-ment while 23% knew of these laws.

Nearly 44% of these women stated that there are no laws currently existing whereas 22% knew that they existed.

The majority of these women also indicated that there are not any laws against harass-ment (47%) while only 15% responded yes to the ques-tion. a large percentage of 38% did not know whether they existed or not. It Is distressing that all three education levels had very similar results to this ques-tions as the majority of each group did not believe there were any laws. This shows that more awareness about these laws needs to target all education levels alike.

3. ANALYSIS BY MARITAL STATUS



Question Group 1 : Married Group 2: Non-married

Q.9 Have you been street harassed or harassed or someone you know such as friend, neighbor, sister, daughter, by men?

Nearly 18% of married men indi-cated that they have been street or harassed themselves while 58% have known someone who has been. About 24% responded no to the question

The majority of the women in this group (70%) have stated that they know someone who was harassed whereas 12% reported that they themselves have been assaulted.

Q10. If Yes, Where have you/she been street harassed / harassed?

When the married share of the respondents were asked about the location of their assault, a large portion (56%) indicated that they have been assaulted on a bus stop and another 56% identified the taxi stop as a primary place for harassment. Around 53% stat-ed that they have experienced harassment through cell phone whereas 52% pointed out that deserted areas were unsafe.

A large portion of the non-married respondents (65%), who have answered this question, indicated that they have most experienced harassment near schools. Around 64% stated that malls have frequent incidents of harassment followed by parks (60%) and the roadside (57%).

Q11. What kind(s) of harassment have you/she faced?

Out of the 44% of married wom-en, who have answered this ques-tion, nearly 54% stated that they have been assaulted through waving. Other forms of harass-ment were touching (45%) as well as harassment through comments (45%).

Nearly 56% of the total pool of respondents who answered this question were non-married. Around 59% percent of them reported that they have been harassed through whistling whereas 58% stated they were by stalking or a car follow-up. Moreover, 56% pointed out that staring is also a common form of assault that they have experi-enced.

Q.12 At what time(s) of the day have you/she faced street har-assment / harassment?

When married women were asked to identify the times of the day they experienced harassment, the larger share of them (55%) believed that late at night was the most unsafe time while 45% stat-ed that they experience assault during the day as well from 12-5pm.

Nearly 57% of the non-married women who have answered this question, reported that they have been assaulted in the morning whereas 56% deemed the even-ing from 6-10pm as a prime time for incidents of harassment. Fur-thermore, 55% indicated that have been harassed during the day as well.

Q.13 Who harassed you/she? The analysis of the questions seeks to point out the type of har-asser that assaults married and

Non-married women constituted the larger share of respondents in almost all of the questions




non-married women. About 57% of the married women who an-swered this question reported that they have been harassed by relatives or friends. Furthermore, 51% stated that shop owners were also harassing then fol-lowed by bus and taxi drivers (45%) and unemployed men (45%)

about the different types of har-assers. 67% out of the non-married respondents indicated that they have been assaulted by their colleagues while 61% re-ported being harassed by school or university students. Moreo-ver, policemen as well as work-ers and craftsmen were also among the groups mentioned with 45% reporting about each group.

Q14. Age at first street harassment / harassment

Nearly 58% of the women who reported being first harassed at the ages from 26-39 were married women. 44% were harassed at the age from 15-25 and around 51% experience assault at the ages from 40 and above.

The largest share (56%) of Non- married women who have an-swered this question, indicated that they were first harassed at the age from 15-25. Around 49% were from the ages of 40 and be-yond whereas 42% were between the ages of 26 and 39.

Q18. In your opinion, do you think that the girl herself is the cause for harassment?

About 61% of the married women believed that the girl is some-times to blame for her assault whereas 28% disagreed. 11% stat-ed that the girl is almost always to blame for street harassment.

While non-married women had a similar percentage distribution answering the questions, the ac-tual percentages slightly differ. Nearly 55% thought that the girl is sometimes to be blamed while 38% believed it is not her fault. The remaining 7% confirmed that the girl is cause for her as-sault.

Q22. How do street harassment/ harassment make you feel?

Around 59% of the married women, who answered this ques-tion, felt the need to talk to some-one after their experience. More-over 51% felt angry while 49% felt a sense of hopelessness, and another 48% felt humiliated.

Some of the more frequent emo-tions that non married women experienced were guilt (63%) followed by anxiety and depres-sion (54%), fear (53%)as well as anger (49%).

Q24. Have you ever reacted/ tak-en action when someone has har-assed you?

When married women were asked about the kind of reaction they would give when someone would harass them, around 57% indicated that they would run away while 50% said they would call a brother or a father. Moreo-ver 47% stated they would re-

The most frequent reactions that non-married women have exhib-ited towards their harassment were reporting to policemen (63%) followed by responding physically (61%). Others have dealt with their experiences of harassment through responding




spond verbally while 44% indi-cated they would just ignore it.

with body language 57% or just by ignoring (56%).

Q28. Are there laws against street harassment/ harassment?

When married women were asked about their awareness of any existing laws against street harassment, around 37% indicat-ed that there are not any whereas 29% knew of the laws.

Nearly 49% non-married re-spondents believed that are no laws against street harassment while only 15% confirmed that there are. The remaining 36% did not know the answer to the ques-tion which shows a major lack of legal awareness for this issue.

Documents

UNWOMEN Report .3