Free to Be: Sydney

Cat-calling, stalking, groping and worse – it doesn’t matter where they live, girls face harassment and abuse on a daily basis all around the world, simply because of their gender.

The magnitude of this global issue is the basis of recent research by Plan International where over 21,000 girls across Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Sydney reported the areas in their city where they feel safe and unsafe, using our digital mapping tool developed in partnership with Monash University.

Now, we’re launching the findings in our Free to Be: Sydney report: Sydney, which reveals startling levels of street harassment and an overwhelming feeling from girls that they are powerless to change it.

The threat of sexual harassment with and without physical contact was the main issue identified in connection with bad pins. Over two-thirds of the comments on bad pins included sexual harassment of some kind and 63% of all the pins identified gender-based discrimination as a factor.