“I’m sure every woman you speak to has a laundry list of really terrible experiences.”
These were the words of Tiffany Mazza, Founder of Strega Running Club.
The running regular’s words can be testified by statistics.
A survey conducted by YouGov reported that 43% of women who answered had experienced catcalling and verbal harassment whilst out in public. The figure rose to 66% for those aged between 19-29.
More specifically, 92% of women feel unsafe when running and 60% say they have been verbally abused.
“The reason why I actually set up the running club was because of an experience I had down Leeds Canal.”
Strega Running Club hosts weekly running sessions every Thursday which are exclusive to women.
“There were two guys. As I ran past they said ‘have you got the time love?’ I looked over my shoulder and they started to follow me. I started to run out of town. They were tailing me all the way.”
“A cyclist came towards me. I stopped him and told him about the lads following me. As I stopped the guy they sped off on their bikes.”
Unfortunately, Ms Mazza’s experience in Leeds is a common one.
Leeds Now’s very own Emma Haresign, a regular runner in Leeds, shared her experience.
“It’s particularly worse in Leeds. I’ve noticed that depending on what time I go out there are men in white vans that like to stare, shout and whistle, and it just makes me feel really uncomfortable.”
“I plan my runs around how busy a park is going to be or how much daylight there is. It gets really difficult especially as we’re going into the winter months. I don’t have any time to go out where i feel safe.”
So what is being done?
This week, Leeds City Council announced the JogOn campaign.
Set up by The Safer Leeds Partnership and Get Set Leeds Local, the JogOn initiative aims to help women report harassment they experience when running in Leeds.
Councillor Mary Harland, Executive Member for Communities, Customer Service and Community Safety, went into further detail on the initiative.
“The main goal of JogOn is to help women and girls exercising in Leeds to feel safe and free from harassment while doing so. This will be done by raising awareness, encouraging reporting and inspiring change.”
“JogOn forms part of the wider agenda of tackling violence against women and girls, something the council takes incredibly seriously.”
Ms Mazza thinks exploring additional measures could go a long way.
“We need real tough behavioural change. And that is really really difficult to do.”
“We’re working with a community led approach. We’re trying to get into the local working men’s clubs and actually start conversations with them.”
Strega Running Club have come up with their own way of addressing the issue.
Source: Tiffany Mazza All Rights Reserved | All Rights Reserved“We’re getting some beer mats printed up for our local clubs. The beer mats will pose a little bit of a question and ask the reader to go away.”
Ask the women in your life why they glance back over their shoulder when they pass a man?
Ask the women in your life if they’ve ever faked a laugh when they feel unsafe?
“You’re prompting them to go and ask that question rather than it being argumentative and finger pointing.”
“It’s those sort of conversations that can be more illuminating.”
If you are a woman in Leeds looking for a running group to join, go to RunTogether and apply the ‘Suitable for Women’ filter.
And more importantly, if you have ever been subject to harassment, remember to report it.
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