Keeping her safe

Sri Lanka has jailed a person accused of sexually harassing two British women for five years after getting video evidence on Skype, in a landmark case that shows how accountability can be used to stem a decades-old menace when there is institutional support.

This instance highlights how accountability can be achieved when institutions come together to aid the victim and promote justice. The Police, Attorney General’s Department, the High Court and tourism authorities all joined to deliver justice. If the same could be done for other cases of harassment, which women encounter unceasingly, this issue could be addressed and women made to feel safer. It is a refreshing deviation from the victim-blaming that is usually seen in these instances.     

In December 2015, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) commissioned a national study on sexual harassment against women on public transport in Sri Lanka. The study revealed that 90% of women have been subjected to sexual harassment at least once on public buses and trains.

This is hardly news to women, many of who can recount disturbing examples by the dozen, and it is not limited to transport. Public harassment of women is a serious problem, and one that has seen almost no solutions, despite women making up about 52% of Sri Lanka’s population. The plaster solution often provided is to either blame women, or to provide segregated transport options such as women-only train carriages. Gender segregation is, however, only a short-term solution. It’s problematic in that it reinforces gender stereotypes, contributing to the societal causes of sexual violence, and does nothing to hold perpetrators accountable. 

At a fundamental level, segregation perpetuates a culture that blames victims and frames all men as threats to women. It’s a knee-jerk response that reinforces outdated power dynamics and erases the complexity of gender identity. It also does nothing to change behaviour, social attitudes or improve accountability. Women are having their rights broken every day, but there is no enforcement of law to protect those rights. This is where the problem needs to be fixed.  

Society is now acknowledging how factors of race, age, disability, socioeconomic status, sexuality, and gender intersect to influence the everyday lived experiences of people, and there is an urgent need to rethink the approach to safety to reflect this understanding.

Currently, sexual harassment does not significantly influence the safety design of public environments. Instead, safety measures are generalised and gender-blind. But if Sri Lanka is to properly address this widespread issue, there is a need to include diverse voices in the conversation, and conduct more research into how sexual harassment can be eliminated. With no concentrated effort that involves stakeholders, more and more women are choosing to opt out of using public transport or moving around in public space after dark, but this doesn’t solve the problem. It merely becomes yet another issue that is coloured by shades of class and gender. 

Sri Lanka needs to take steps to stop harassment of women. The Government, institutions, civil society, private sector, and other stakeholders need to come together to have a serious dialogue on this issue and take measures to improve protection and law enforcement. This is not just a matter that affects tourists, but all women, and they deserve to be treated with the same kindness, respect and humanity.