Survey: 57% of Malaysian women experience verbal sexual harassment on the streets

PETALING JAYA: More than 50% of Malaysian women have experienced verbal sexual harassment when walking on the streets, a survey shows.

The survey, which was done by the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS) in collaboration with the All Women’s Action Society (Awam), revealed that 57% of Malaysian women said they experienced being sexually harassed verbally on a regular basis when walking on the streets.

Meanwhile, 22% of the respondents said they have been verbally sexually harassed at most once when walking on the streets.

In a Twitter thread, Cent-GPS shared some of the preliminary results of the survey that was conducted between Aug 24 and Sept 15 with the participation of 1,056 women aged from 18 to 30 years old in the country.

The results also stated that 68% of the respondents said they do not feel safe driving alone at night and at least 44% said that they have experienced a teacher making sexually provocative jokes.

The centre added that due to fear of being harassed sexually, 71% of the women had to change their travel routes or routines.

“These results are common knowledge for many Malaysian women, but many men will never relate to the fear of watching a movie alone or having to drive alone at night.

“Even in one country, we live in two separate worlds,” Cent-GPS said in a Twitter post Tuesday (Sep 21).

The survey also revealed that half of the women in Malaysia do not feel safe alone in cinemas.

“Malaysian women can not even travel to work or school in peace. And even as they get to school, there's a strong chance they have to listen to their teacher make sexually provocative jokes,” it added.

In the full preliminary reports of the survey uploaded to its website, the centre also said that the public took for granted the kind of difficulties half of the Malaysian population faces daily.

“For many (men), it is incomprehensible that a woman would have to change their daily routines or routes to work for fear of being sexually harassed.

“It is incomprehensible that a simple thing such as watching a movie alone in the cinema is an unobtainable privilege,” it said, adding that it hopes the preliminary survey would open the eyes of many Malaysians.

The full preliminary reports can be accessed on the Cent-GPS website at www.centgps.com.my

Twitter embed:

Cent-GPS in collaboration with @AWAMMalaysia launched a nationwide study for women aged 18- 30 on their experience with sexual harassment. Do they feel safe driving alone at night? Or watching movies alone in the cinema? Or with a male doctor or male family member? Thread pic.twitter.com/WRgfKVcqPh — Centre for Governance and Political Studies (@CentGPS) September 21, 2021