Words by Smiley Team
Musicians including Anne-Marie, Clara Amfo and Emily Eavis, have signed an open letter to tackle sexual harassment at live music events this festival season.
The new campaign from UN Women UK, Safe Spaces, is using music festival Strawberries & Creem as a pilot to encourage companies, event organisers and venues to combat harassment of women.
UN Women UK executive director Claire Barnett is optimistic about the campaign, saying, “People often think it's not possible to change behaviour in public spaces, or that the problem is too big. But we know that's not the case - we just need to bring together people who know how to achieve behavioural change, with communities who care enough to make it happen.”
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Organisers launched the initiative off the back of more than a decade of efforts around the world from UN Women through its 'Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces' framework. In 2017, the Mayor of London committed to the framework and from 2020 the UN started to roll out the Safe Spaces Now project across the UK.
“Of course then the pandemic happened,” adds Claire, “and instead of going around the UK working with local businesses, councils, educational institutions to transform their public spaces, this meant we all had to leave public space, which posed a challenge.”
However, they overcame this set-back, using the period to gather stories and ideas in order to return to public spaces more consciously than before.
“The pandemic also showed us that changes in behaviour are possible at a large scale, and very quickly too. So now, we think we have a really important moment to return to our public spaces - including gigs, festivals, tours and studios - with different, better and more inclusive expectations,” she explains.
More than 7 in 10 women in the UK told the UN Women this year that they have been sexually harassed. This number rises steeply among under 40s, among whom YouGov found that over 40% who go to festivals say they have been sexually harassed there.
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“The huge majority of women aren't reporting these experiences, with many saying this is because they don't believe it will change anything,” says Claire. “We have also all heard the stories of women musicians, artists, and professionals within the music industry talking about abuses of power and status with them as the target.
"The time for saying this isn't ok is over - we think the time for working to create practical changes has begun.”
To join the music stars in combatting harassment, sign the open letter for Safe Spaces Now at unwomenuk.org/safe-spaces-in-music.
