In Leiden, The Netherlands following recent incidents of street harassment young women have expressed their concerns: they want to be able to live a normal life. The response given from the authorities to young women was to be extra vigilant. Street harassment is defined as an intimidating approach by a stranger in public. Studies show that women are more often the victim of general discourtesy and harassment in public places compared to men. Street harassment has proven to have physical, mental, and emotional effect on its target. The aim of this study was to understand how Leiden makes the city safer for women and how young women perceive these approaches. This study is part of a research project named ‘Leren met de Stad’ translated into Learning with the City. The data of this study was collected through semi-structured interviews with three individuals from the authorities and a focus group interview of six young women. The qualitative data of this study was processed through a six-phase thematic analysis. The results indicated that as for now the effort to prevent or decrease street harassment is not high on the agenda of Leiden due to minimal reports of street harassment incidents. The young women who participated in this study addressed the normalization from society, negligent behaviours from the authorities and the importance of providing a solution for an issue that according to them is urgent. The conclusion of this study is that there should be a strong desire to positively change social norms on all societal levels, create more awareness and cooperation between authorities to improve the safety of women in Leiden.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68421 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Boateng, Lisa |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för kriminologi (KR) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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