text: Every woman surveyed in Paris claimed to have been a victim of some kind of sexual harassment on the city’s public transport. Half of them were assaulted before they were 18 years old. The poll led to calls for a campaign to stem sexist or threatening behaviour on buses and trains. The survey found that “every female user of mass transit has been a victim” of “gender harassment or sexual assault” – even though some are “unaware” of this because they have been conditioned to accept low-level abuse. Every woman surveyed in Paris claimed to have been a victim of some kind of sexual harassment on the city’s public transport . The poll of 600 women from the area around Paris found that half of those interviewed said they had first suffered harassment under the age of 18. Harassment can range from “insults to other intimidating behaviour (insistent flirting, whistling, comments on appearance), to sex attacks or rape,” it said. The problem meant that six out of ten women were afraid of being attacked on public transport compared to three out of ten men. Often “invisible” because unreported, these physical and verbal attacks limit “the freedom of women, because they are often obligated to alter their daily lives: changing their routes, modes of transportation, schedules, attitudes and clothing in order to avoid confrontation,” the report handed to the French women’s rights ministry this week, claimed. The result was to “exclude women from the public arena”, it said. Pascale Boisard, president of the high council for gender equality, which compiled the report, told Le Parisien she had not realised that “the problem was quite this widespread”. The poll led to calls for a campaign to stem sexist or threatening behaviour on buses and trains. Pictured: The Haussmann-Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris . “Women must be able to move about and occupy the public space without being placed in danger or threatened. It’s a fundamental freedom,” she said. Ernestine Ronai, also on the council, said: “Attackers are the impression they can act with total impunity, notably by making use of a crowd to hide and flee. “Women don’t necessarily know how to put words on what they go through in public transport. It should be reiterated that putting your hand on someone’s backside is sexual assault punishable by a five-year prison term and a €75,000 fine.” She said women needed to be better “educated that what they’re going through is not normal”, and that the message must reach “aggressors and witnesses”.
target: The poll surveyed 600 women from the area in and around Paris .
  All claimed to have been victim of harassment on transport system .
  Found half of those interviewed had been assaulted before they were 18 .
  Led to calls for campaign to stem sexist and threatening behaviour .