Stopping harassment of women runners
- Izaak Wilson
- Oct 2
- 1 min read
Keeping women safe from harassment – Leeds JogOn is a collaboration between the Safer Leeds Partnership, Get Set Leeds Local, and Yorkshire Sport Foundation.
It'll be tackling the issue by identifying perpetrators with plain clothes officers, and raising awareness around the unacceptable harassment of female runners.
Running should feel freeing, not frightening. But for too many women, that’s not the reality.
A survey run by Women Friendly Leeds in 2021 found that 85% of the women who responded had experienced being leered at, catcalled or wolf-whistled. As a result, women stated they have changed their behaviour due to feeling unsafe when using outside spaces, with some saying that they no longer exercise outside.
To tackle this, and as part of the campaign, plain clothes officers will also go running in ‘hot spot areas’ to identify perpetrators. Those found to be harassing could be issued with a fine or a fixed penalty notice.
Harassment of women runners is never acceptable, and the Jog On campaign has been launched to raise awareness and encourage reporting.
Incidents of harassment can be reported to the police by calling 101 or using online contact methods at Report it | West Yorkshire Police.
