Attitudes towards harassment behaviour highlighted in a new report have been labelled “alarming” in the wake of ongoing violence against women in the north.
Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Experiences and attitudes of adults in Northern Ireland in 2023 was published on Wednesday by Stormont’s Executive Office.
Based on data sourced from the 2023 Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey, the report found that 10% of females reported experiencing sexual violence in the last five years, compared to 4% of males.
Respondents also said psychological violence was the type of gender-based violence most commonly faced, with 13% saying they had experienced it, while those aged 18-39 experienced more sexual, psychological and online violence than other age groups.
The report’s findings on attitudes towards certain behaviours has prompted further concern.
Twenty-one percent of respondents said they believed so-called ‘cat-calling’ or ‘wolf-whistling’ was acceptable behaviour.
Forms of street sexual harassment, plans to outlaw both behaviours were approved by Westminster MPs last year.
In the survey, 35% said they thought most people would find both behaviours acceptable.
Meanwhile, 8% said they thought sending an intimate photo or video of themselves to a woman without her consent - known as ‘cyber-flashing’ and illegal in Northern Ireland since November of last year - was acceptable.
19% said they thought most people would find it acceptable.
However, 73% said they would intervene if they witnessed someone they personally know telling a rape joke about women, while 85% said they would intervene if they saw someone they know making a woman or girl uncomfortable through comments of a sexual nature.
Executive Office committee chair and Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said the report’s findings were “deeply shocking”, particularly following recent high profile cases of violence against women.
Since 2020, 24 women have been violently killed in the north.
“There remains also, even beyond these figures, a tendency to tolerate and even enable misogyny, including in the political sphere, which goes well beyond what we should be allowing,” Ms Bradshaw said.
Her Alliance assembly colleague and party spokesperson on violence against women and girls, Connie Egan, said: “The number of people who still find certain behaviours acceptable, from cat-calling to sending unwanted messages, should alarm all of us.
The North Down MLA added: “There is still a long way to go to end violence against women and girls, and these recent figures demonstrate why a central part of tackling and ending gender-based and domestic violence must be addressing the attitudes which, too often, underlie it.”
SDLP Foyle MLA Sinéad McLaughlin said the report’s findings were a “stark reminder of the prevalence of gender-based violence in Northern Ireland”, and that the numbers of women reporting sexual violence was “unacceptable in any society and must serve as a call to action for immediate and sustained intervention”.
She continued: “While this report does highlight alarming attitudes...I am encouraged that the majority of people would be willing to challenge sexual comments.
“These findings are a wake-up call for the Executive to prioritise the delivery of the ending violence against women and girls strategy. We need robust laws, education programmes, and increased resources to support victims and challenge damaging attitudes.”
