A new report has revealed young women are forced to hide in shops and bathrooms to avoid street harassment in Sydney, with three high-traffic areas reporting an overwhelming number of negative incidents.
The global survey of 750 women in Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Sydney found catcalling is one of the most common forms of street harassment in all cities.
In Sydney, the three locations with the highest concentration of sexual harassment reports, as analysed in Plan International's Unsafe in the City study, are all within Sydney's CBD and busy commercial areas with high foot traffic.
Central Station and the adjacent Belmore Park, Town Hall and Hyde Park area and Newtown's King Street topped the list for "bad" locations in the - a program that allows women to reports locations of harassment.
Reports in these areas included physical sexual harassment, non-physical sexual harassment and harassment from people under the influence of drugs and alcohol - at any time of day. On King Street specifically, harassment targeted towards LGBTI+ people was particularly common.
Reports in Newtown. Orange indicates "bad" report. Source: Free to Be
“Often get commented on or yelled after by straight blokes when I’m holding hands with my wife. Newtown doesn’t feel safe for lesbians since lockout laws were introduced," one respondent said.
"Last week I was groped outside [Webster's Bar on King Street] by a homophobic man while I was on a date with another woman, the bouncer saw and told me not to be upset but said nothing to the attacker," wrote another.
Across Sydney, the research, undertaken between April and June 2018, found 34 per cent of Sydney women experienced verbal threats while 32 per cent were exposed to catcalling in public places.
Some 43 per cent of Sydney woman surveyed were aged between 21 and 25 while 26 per cent were between 16 and 20.
One 18-year-old Sydney woman said she was catcalled by construction workers on her way to a job interview.
"[It] threw me off for the rest of the day - being catcalled makes you want to cover yourself in heaps of layers and hide," she said in the report released on Tuesday.
It suggested 82 per cent of harassment in Sydney happened on the street, 14 per cent on public transport and nine per cent in parks and shops.
Most of the reported harassment happened in the afternoon and evening.
A 23-year-old woman claimed she was followed by two men in a car while she was returning from a party.
"I ran and hid in someone's front yard. Within one minute the car returned, slowly doing laps of the street. They eventually drove off and I ran home terrified," she said in the report.
Another woman, 19, said she ended up hiding in a shop with a friend after men in a van started following them and yelling at them from the car.
Of the women surveyed, five per cent revealed they were physically assaulted.
"Ass grabbed under my skirt by one guy whilst walking past a group of males on my way home. His friends defended him when I got in his face," a 23-year-old woman said.
But there was some good news, too. Three locations were identified as safe for women, where "good" pins outnumbered the "bad".
McIver Women's baths have been reported as the "best place to be a woman in Sydney". Source: AirBnB
Women reported feeling particularly safe in Circular Quay and the Royal Botanical Gardens, McIver Women's Baths in Coogee and the University of NSW campus.
Comments on McIver's baths - a salt water pool for women and children only - called it the "best place to be a woman in Sydney".
Plan International Australia chief executive Susanne Legena says most harassment in Sydney involves groups of men yelling out from vehicles.
"Men and boys are pushing girls and women out of public spaces and denying them their right to freedom of movement with sexist, often vicious behaviour," she said in a statement.
