Third of girls sexually harassed while wearing school uniform

MORE than a third of girls wearing school uniform have been sexually harassed in public, a survey has found.

Research by Plan International UK, a children’s charity, reveals that 37 per cent of girls have been groped, stared at, catcalled and wolf-whistled when they were wearing their school uniform in public.

It also found that one in eight girls were aged 12 or younger when they first experienced the unwanted sexual attention.

Others said they had been followed, filmed or photographed by a stranger without their permission and 8 per cent reported being victims of upskirting while in their uniform, without their consent.

Jess, 16, from Glasgow, said: “When I was 15, I was in school uniform and sat on a train and this guy kept trying to put his hand on my leg.

“I was like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ I ended up getting off the train at the next stop and just being completely lost.”

She added: “It was such a horrible experience. I was going to see my biology tutor and I arrived at the library in tears. I was really upset about it. I think the worst part was feeling guilty because I was wearing a skirt – which is stupid, because it shouldn’t matter what I was wearing.”

The findings also expose the fear and shock girls feel when harassed, with some girls changing what they wear and where they go in order to prevent harassment. Almost a quarter of victims had some experience of sexual touching, groping, flashing, sexual assault or rape while they were in or around school.

Kelsy, 18, from Belfast, said: “In school, they made a game to see how many girls’ skirts you could flip up and see how many people would see, and the most people to see her underwear the better.

“One girl actually had to leave the school after [because she was bullied after this happening to her].”

The charity is calling on the Government to recognise street harassment as a form of gender-based violence.

Tanya Barron, chief executive of the charity, told The Daily Telegraph: “Despite great progress for women and girls in some areas, street harassment is too often considered to be a ‘part of growing up’ and is widely normalised – 37 per cent of girls have been sexually harassed while travelling to or from school. This disgraceful behaviour needs to be called out and stopped.”