Street harassment directed at women will count as a hate crime in a new move in the UK to tackle sexist abuse.

Police in Nottinghamshire have decided that cat calling, unwanted sexual advances, harassment, or any behaviour targeted towards a victim just because they are a woman will now be classified as a hate crime that women can formally report. The force defines misogynistic hate crimes as: “Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman, and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman.” https://twitter.com/bethanforrest/status/753517410607661057 Nottinghamshire Chief Constable Sue Fish said:

"Misogynistic hate crime can cause significant distress to women, who have been known to face threats and in some cases sexual or physical abuse for turning down propositions. We have heard first-hand accounts from women who have been through this, who were left frightened and intimidated, but felt there was nothing they could do about it. "Claiming we are focusing on wolf-whistling and cat-calling does nothing more than trivialise our intentions. We want to encourage women to feel that they can report incidents where they have been made to feel intimidated, or frightened by this unacceptable unwanted behaviour. "We do not think it is acceptable for men to grope women in nightclubs, or for men to shout sexually explicit comments about what they want to do to a woman. As with any crime or incident which is reported to us, we will respond in a proportionate manner. "We want to give women the confidence to report misogynistic hate crime, educate everyone about the impact that this sort of behaviour can have on people’s quality of life, show that this should not be tolerated and make Nottinghamshire a safer place."

https://twitter.com/penelopebabs/status/753255798197874688 Nottinghamshire police have even set up a separate misogyny hate crime force to provide specific training for police officers and a support network for victims. Domestic abuse does not fall under the department’s remit. It's not known yet whether this crackdown on the misogynistic abuse of women will be adopted in the rest of the UK, and beyond. https://twitter.com/LeanneWoodfull/status/753503262070931456 In Ireland, most women could provide anecdotal evidence of cat-calling and others forms of harassment. Indeed, according to The Dublin Inquirer, an unpublished report by Dublin City Council earlier this year found that "sexual harassment is a frequent and distressing occurrence for women and girls in Dublin City” The study showed that those most at risk were younger women, gay women, homeless women, immigrant women and sex workers. It also indicated that some girls as young as 10 attracted unwanted attention in their school uniforms.