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Women cyclists struggle with rampant sexual harassment
It has been considered cool and noble to bike to commute for the sake of the environment or health, but for women cyclists, they must not only struggle to claim their space on the streets of the capital city, but they also face an even more dire challenge: rampant sexual harassment and abuse
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span>It has been considered cool and noble to bike to commute for the sake of the environment or health, but for women cyclists, they must not only struggle to claim their space on the streets of the capital city, but they also face an even more dire challenge: rampant sexual harassment and abuse.
Justitia Avila Veda, a 24-year-old working for an NGO in Central Jakarta, stopped commuting to work by train in January and opted to go to her office by bike instead. She said she was tired of seeing and experiencing sexual harassment in the super-crowded trains. Little did she know that she would face the same problem on the road.
“I have been sexually harassed several times on the commuter line. Last January, I saw a girl crying after a man ejaculated on her on the train and that’s when I said: Enough is enough!” she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Unfortunately, as she commutes to work by bike she still experiences sexual harassment almost on a daily basis. “Almost every time I ride my bike, I am catcalled by men. Other women cyclists I know have also complained about the same thing,” she said. “Men would wink at me, whistle or look at my body in a very degrading manner.”
The harassment did not stop at catcalling, Veda has also been physically abused by other road users. Some time ago she was groped by a motorcyclist when she was stopped at a red light in Kemang, South Jakarta. Last February, another motorcyclist pushed her from her bike for no reason, leaving her with bruises and scratches.
“I was riding my bike at about 10 p.m. in Pancoran, South Jakarta, when a motorcyclist suddenly approached me and pushed me with his elbow. I fell onto a road guardrail, bruising and scratching several parts of my body,” she said, adding that she could not catch the motorcyclist as he rode away quickly.
Veda explained that since the number of cyclists in Jakarta was still low, they tend to stand out and attract attention. The case is worse for women cyclists as other road users usually perceive their bike-riding attire, such as shorts and form-fitting T-shirts, in a sexual manner.
The lack of or low number of bike lanes in Jakarta intensifies their risks of being harassed on the roads. “Because Jakarta doesn’t have many bike lanes, I am forced to ride my bike among motorcycles, cars and trucks. Sometimes, they intimidate me because they think I don’t belong on the roads without bike lanes. I think the situation makes me really vulnerable as other road users could easily touch me or hurt me.”
The high risks of cycling in the capital city make other women cyclists reluctant to commute to work by bike. Veda said that most of her friends chose to only cycle in large groups on Sunday as exercise.
Even though the risks are high, Veda said she still preferred to commute by bike rather than train because she felt more empowered. “When I commuted by train, I felt stuck and weak whenever someone harassed me. But when I ride my bike, I feel more empowered because I constantly move, I have more room to escape or chase the harassers.”
Veda is trying to bring the issue of rampant sexual harassment of women cyclists into the light. Last Saturday, she and her cycling community, Anak Haram Jalanan Ibukota (Bastard of the Capital’s Roads), held a public discussion with women cyclists from other countries at the Purple Code Collective in Tebet, South Jakarta.
Siri Tolander, a 35-year old cyclist from Stockholm, said in the discussion that sexual harassment was not only rampant in Jakarta but in her developed country as well, even though it had better infrastructure for cyclists. She shared her experience of being groped, pushed by other road users and almost being hit by cars.
“The fact that I am a woman and a cyclist definitely makes me more vulnerable to sexual harassment. We’re living in a patriarchal society; a lot of men think they hold more power than women and the fact that cyclists are marginal on the roads only adds to the problem,” she said.
Another female cyclist, Anny Vera from Colombia, said she also struggled with a lack of safety and rampant sexual harassment in her country.
“There are a lot of motorcyclists in Columbia, just like in Indonesia. I have been harassed both verbally and physically when I rode my bike and pushed by other road users, especially motorcyclists,” she said. (nal)
