Misogynistic treatment of women 'highly prevalent' in Nottinghamshire, new report finds

Misogynistic treatment of women is “highly prevalent” two years after a police force started considering it as a hate crime, according to a new report.

Nottinghamshire Police expanded the scope of hate crime to include misogyny in a pilot scheme in 2016 – applying to incidents spanning from street harassment through to unwanted physical approaches.

The local police force records misogynistic behaviour as hate crime or hate incidents contingent on whether the behaviour is illegal or not.

The Misogyny Hate Crime Evaluation report, which was put together by experts from the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, found nearly 94 per cent of people surveyed have experienced or witnessed street harassment in Nottinghamshire.

“Misogyny hate crime is highly prevalent but still significantly underreported, and continues to be so, two years after the inception of the policy in Nottinghamshire. This is partly due to the ‘normalisation’ of these incidents and people’s lack of knowledge that the policy exists,” says the report.

Helen Voce, the chief executive of Nottingham Women’s Centre, said: “The primary objective of the policy change was not to see hundreds of prosecutions, it was to let people know that this behaviour isn’t acceptable and will not be tolerated in Nottinghamshire.”

She urged other areas in the country to follow Nottinghamshire’s lead and implement the policy.

“People should not have to accept this behaviour and shouldn’t have to change their own behaviour to avoid harassment of this nature. What this research clearly shows is that people don’t want it anymore, and this policy is a step in the right direction in helping to change the culture across the county and stop this happening at all. We also hope that other areas will follow suit.”

The research demonstrated the policy had been misconstrued and “trivialised” in the press, which had honed in on wolf-whistling and erroneously suggested this was now illegal despite the pilot policy not criminalising any offences that were previously legal.

Dr Loretta Trickett, from Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, said: “This policy gives women the reassurance that their complaints will be taken seriously by the police. It’s still early days but our evidence shows that this is happening, the women we spoke to felt they’d had a positive experience after reporting misogyny hate crimes.”

The report found the policy is already “shifting attitudes” and advises rolling the policy out nationally to boost publicity and incidents being reported.

More than 87 per cent of people surveyed thought the policy change was a good idea.

The issue is set to be debated at a meeting of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) on Wednesday.

Campaigners have urged constabularies in England and Wales to follow Nottinghamshire’s example.

An open letter co-signed by the Fawcett Society, civil society alliance Citizens UK, senior faith leaders and non-governmental organisations has urged the NPCC to vote to record misogyny as a hate crime nationwide at this week’s meeting.

Campaigners argue the Me Too and Time’s Up movements demonstrate why it is imperative we address the abuse, harassment and problematic behaviour that many women are subject to, which they say can create “a culture of impunity in society, leading to more severe crimes”.

Just a minority of forces have followed Nottinghamshire Police’s example so far.

The pilot scheme in Nottingham previously revealed cases of misogyny were reported every three days in July and August 2017.

Addressing the latest report, Rachel Barber, deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police and the force’s strategic lead for hate crime, said: “We take all reports of hate crime extremely seriously and it’s great to hear that the focus on this particular strand of hate crime since 2016 by the force and partners has given women the confidence to report incidents.

“Our aim is not to criminalise people or increase prosecutions but about making it clear that behaviour which intimidates, threatens, humiliates or targets women is completely unacceptable. However, we will of course seek prosecutions where these are appropriate. As the report shows, the vast majority of men are rightly appalled by this behaviour and it’s fantastic to be able to offer a victim’s perspective to educate and stop women being subject to hate crime due to their gender.”