Abuse towards female runners in Worcestershire and in general 'needs challenging', says MP Jess Phillips

The government minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls Jess Phillips says it's 'not acceptable' female runners had received abuse, some of which included sexual remarks, in Worcestershire.

University of Worcester research published in June highlighted data collected from The Running Free, Running Safe survey which heard from 101 people, 61 women and 40 men, with more than half of those reporting experiencing harassment and abuse while out running.

It found the abuse most common in being directed at women took the form of men shouting obscene and sexualised remarks or comments from vehicles and the shouted abuse was often about the victims’ appearance.

At the time we heard from a woman who said she had been 'wolf-whistled' at when out running, while a male runner also told us how he had seen a plastic bottle thrown at him.

The Worcester MP Tom Collins also labelled the abuse and harassment to male and female runners as 'utterly unacceptable'.

'Behaviour needs challenging'

Speaking in Worcester during a visit to look at on-going policing work to tackle street crime and anti-social behaviour as part of the government's safer streets initiative, Phillips, who's the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, said the research didn't come as a shock.

"I wish I could say that I'd been surprised by that (research)," she said.

"I'm not a great runner, but I have watched women running in my local park and having men shouting and leering at them.

"It's not accidental that these people exist, they exist in all of our lives, and we have to, whether it's gently or otherwise, challenge this sort of behaviour."

She continued: "Certainly if my sons were shouting at women who were out for a run in the street, I'd have more than a few stern words to say to them."

The research also asked participants what changes, if any, they made after being targeted by abuse.

Particularly for women, responses included running in groups rather than alone, not running early in the morning or late in the evening and sticking to built up areas away from streets with poor lighting. 

In what can be done to further tackle the issue, Phillips said: "We need a more robust response but not just from policing.

"We need a different education system and culture that means that if you see somebody in the street shouting at a woman you feel you can intervene.

"This is on all of us, this is a cultural problem."

The study has now entered its second phase where it will record and show the experiences of runners in the lighter summer months.

In her visit to Worcester, the home office minster spent her time with police officers in the area seeing how the government's summer safer streets campaign was being rolled out.

The government say over 500 town centres across the country are "benefitting from increased police patrols and localised action to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour during the summer months", when this activity often increases.

16 places in total will be looked at by West Mercia Police, 11 being in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire area including the likes of Ross-on-Wye and Redditch, with five in other areas such as Shrewsbury in Shropshire.

"Its about setting a standard we want for the future and what we expect people to see on their local high street and that is extra policing and crime," Phillips said.

"The labour government is committed to putting 13,000 extra police officers on the streets and putting at the very heart of that commitment is neighbourhood policing, making people feel safe where they live is really important. 

"People like to see police officers visible in their neighbourhoods, but it is all about targeting real hotspots of anti-social behaviour, whether that's in the night-time economy or with sort of retail crime which has been on the rise."

The safer streets initiative runs until 30 September.

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