“There’s still a global curfew on women”

A question for the men in the room:

What steps have you taken in the last week to reduce your risk of being sexually harassed?

…

Anything?

No?

I first saw this exercise done a decade or so back, with about 30 people. My initial response was the same as the other men in the room: confusion - I didn’t really understand the question. The facilitator paused … then waited some more … then eventually asked the women to speak - and the fog lifted …

[If you’re currently having the same experience as I did, go ask the question to the nearest woman …]

I was reminded of this yesterday evening at a Volans webinar with Helen Pankhurst [great grand-daughter of Emmeline]. She was asked how much progress she thought had been made with women’s rights in the last century. While she was optimistic in some areas, she was still concerned about violence against women: “After all,” she said, “there’s still a global curfew on women.”

And that line pulled me up short - exactly as happened with the question 10 years ago.

There’s still a global curfew on women.

Which means there’s work still to be done.

And men have a huge role to play in moving the needle.

If you’d like to be part of the work, then the Men Talking to Men programme I run with Bec Davison might be of interest - get in touch if you’d like to know more.