Campaigner hopes new law will stop sexist street abuse

A campaigner has said she is "really proud" of helping to create a new criminal offence of harassing somebody on the street because of their sex.

Elodie, who previously lived in Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, worked with the town's former MP, Greg Clark, on the Protection from Sex Based Harassment in Public Act which was passed in 2023.

The offence, which has now become enforceable by police, carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

The Home Office said the new law had given police "stronger powers to act decisively."

Elodie, who is now at university, was 15 when she started campaigning on the issue of girls and women facing harassment on the street.

She said she first experienced it while out running, which had "put her off" going out to exercise again for a long time.

She had not realised how much street harassment was affecting her until she heard other girls' experiences "of how they'd been followed, harassed, and catcalled".

She said: "I realised I had also experienced similar things and that I'd been changing the way I acted and things I did in public to avoid it."

Elodie said that, as an adult, she had been followed but she also remembered being harassed on her way home from school.

"They don't necessarily all stick out in your head as one particular incident. It's just horrible, horrible things being said to you," she said.

She said she did not want to see "loads of people suddenly get locked up" but hoped the law change would give clarity "over what is and isn't acceptable."

Elodie, who was working with the charity Plan International, approached Clark as her local MP.

He successfully put a Private Members Bill through Parliament, with the support of constituents and other campaign groups such as Our Streets Now and Reclaim the Night.

Clark's bill created a specific criminal offence of intentionally harassing a person in public because of their sex.

The new law does not come with a list of actions that are illegal but it is expected behaviour such as making offensive gestures or comments, or following somebody closely, would be covered, if it causes alarm or distress.

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said the new laws "put the focus on perpetrators".

She added: "If you harass someone in public because of their sex, it will not be tolerated - you can face a criminal record and up to two years behind bars."

Melissa Hamilton, professor of law and criminal justice at the University of Surrey, said the law was symbolically significant but could be challenging to enforce.

She said having to prove intent was "a known challenge" and because there was no list of actions that qualify, there would be "a lot of discretion on the part of police officers" and the public, about what might qualify.

The offence has taken two and a half years to come into force because a second piece of legislation, known as a statutory instrument, also had to be passed.

The previous Conservative government had begun the process but it stalled after the General Election in 2024.

Clark's successor as MP for Tunbridge Wells, Liberal Democrat Mike Martin, who pushed for the additional legislation to be put in place, said he hoped it would "draw a line."

He added: "When we talk about harassing people, basically, we mean men harassing women and that's a bit of a culture we need to challenge and need to tackle"

Clark, who stepped down as a Conservative MP at the 2024 General Election, said he hoped the new law would "turn the tide" for generations of women.

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