Disturbing Survey Reveals Northern Irish Women's Early Encounters with Sexism

Disturbing Findings

Four in five women in Northern Ireland have admitted that their first experience of sexist behavior or harassment by men happened when they were children. According to a recent survey by Kim McFalone, a PhD researcher, 80% of the women surveyed experienced these unsettling encounters before the age of 17. The research conducted among women aged over 18 highlights the prevalence of staring, sexual comments, touching, catcalling, flashing, and other behaviors that made the women uncomfortable. Ms. McFalone, presenting her findings at the British Sociological Association's annual conference in Manchester, emphasized the alarming fact that many women were subjected to such behaviors while in their school uniform or during their first part-time job as teenagers, indicating imbalanced power dynamics. Impact of Harassment

The study also found that nearly half of the surveyed women had experienced flashing by a man, and 93% had been subjected to wolf-whistling or catcalling. These disturbing encounters occurred alongside an increase in violence against women in Northern Ireland since 1998, reaching record levels in 2024. The research sheds light on the vulnerability of young girls to harassment and the urgent need to address these issues in society.