Steps To Respect

Our Steps to Respect project will pilot a preventative educational programme with a group of young women in Hastings to explore, address and find solutions to the root causes of online and offline gender-based harassment, while empowering them to advocate for change in their schools and communities.

The young women will create a youth-led Manifesto for Change related to online and offline sexual harassment. They will deliver a local campaign across their community, to ensure their voices are at the heart of the sexual harassment debate and their views and experiences are considered by those working to tackle the problem and who can create long-term change.

Aims and objectives
• Recruit and work with a group of young women aged 13-18 from across Hastings between October 2019 – July 2020
• Explore opportunities to understand what works in changing the culture around gender-based harassment
• Produce a youth-led ‘manifesto for change’ to educate and engage professionals about street and school-based harassment
• Create mechanisms and pathways for young women’s voices to feed into wider policy and lobbying activities at all levels
• Work with groups of young men to better understand the underlying motivations of sexual harassment aimed at girls and young women and seek to engage young men as advocates for girls’ rights
• Map community assets to support young women who have experienced sexual harassment
• Share learning by developing a set of web-based resources designed and developed by young people on the key findings of the project

Outcomes for young women
• Equip them with critical thinking skills to challenge the myths and misconceptions surrounding gender stereotypes
• Empower them to become change agents by delivering a local campaign on gender-based harassment in their schools and communities
• Build leadership, debating and problem-solving skills to develop their ability to become youth leaders and active citizens
• Equip young girls and men with the confidence to safely stand up and speak out against all forms of offline and online gender-based harassment

We would like to express our thanks to the Brenda Ford Trust and Fairfield Fund at Sussex Community Foundation for funding this project.

Updated July 2019