Petition · past parliament
Criminalise Public Sexual Harassment With Fines
Rejected
18 signatures
What the petition asks
Criminalise sexist insults, degrading/humiliating comments, or hostile and offensive “sexual or sexist” behaviour towards a person in public areas, schools or workplaces. The police need power to hand out instant fines. Sexual harassment has become wrongly normalised and accepted as inevitable.
Street harassment is a significant part of the lives of most women, including transwomen and gender-diverse individuals, but anyone can be vulnerable. According to a 2017 CNN report, in the UK 64% of all women have been sexually harassed, but even more have simply never reported their experiences. There wasn't much point. Similar measures have already been successfully implemented, most notably in France, Belgium and Portugal. This indicates that these measures can be genuinely effective.
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: Make sexual harassment a specific criminal offence
Timeline
| 13 Mar 2021 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 22 Mar 2021 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
18
Status
Rejected
Rejected
22 Mar 2021
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.