The survey of Bosnian/Herzegovinian women under age 40 found that most experienced their first street harassment before age 17. Over half reported being groped or fondled in the past year. Nearly all respondents reported taking a different route home to avoid harassment, with over half also changing their clothing, avoiding certain areas, or changing the time they left events. While harassment negatively impacted emotions and daily activities, few respondents reported discussing incidents with authorities.

1. Hollaback! International Street
Harassment Survey Project
Analyses provided by:
Dr. Beth Livingston
Research Assistants Maria Grillo and
Rebecca Paluch
Property of Beth A. Livingston, Cornell University.
Do not disseminate without permission of Dr. Livingston and Hollaback.org

2. Procedure
• Beth Livingston (assistant professor, Cornell ILR School) created the survey
– Hollaback!’s constant feedback and guidance
– Guidance of prior research on street (or stranger) harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace.
– Survey uploaded to the survey hosting site (provided by Cornell) called Qualtrics.
• Surveys were translated, where appropriate, by volunteers from various Hollaback! sites
– Guided by instructions to ensure the internal validity of the questionnaire
– Feedback was given by Hollaback! leadership and site leaders throughout the process to make sure we were
using wording that was as broadly applicable as possible
– Reviewed by Cornell’s institutional review board and found to be exempt because no identifying information
was collected from respondents.
• Site leaders given their own links to the survey in the languages they preferred.
– They had 2 months (October 15-December 15, 2014)
– Could send the links out however they wished
– Survey was not randomly distributed to a random sample of participants, and thus cannot be generalized in
the same was as, say, a Gallup survey
– Demographic data was collective so that o a profile of respondents could be created
• Updates were sent to each site periodically to try to encourage them to reach a sample size of 100
respondents per site.
– There were 16,607 respondents across all 42 sites that participated.
– The survey was translated into 13 languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Bosnian, Croatian,
Hindi, Polish, Czech, Nepali, Marathi, and German
•

3. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
SAMPLE SIZE= 18

4. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Age
AGE AT FIRST
HARASSMENT
Percentage of
respondents
<10 16.7
11-12 25.0
13-14 8.3
15-16 33.3
17-20 8.3
21-25 N/A
over 25 8.3

5. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Summaries
• 83% of Bosnian/Herzegovinan women report their first experience
with street harassment before age 17. In fact, 50% report their first
experience before age 15. A full 17% report that it happened before
they turned 10.
• Verbal and nonverbal harassment are the most commonly
experienced types of harassment, and few women report not
experiencing this behavior at all during the past year.
• Having a person expose him/herself to you is the least common
harassment experience, with 73% of women having no experience
with this at all.
• Over half of Bosnian/Herzegovinian women have been groped or
fondled in the past year.
• 55% have been followed by a man or group of men in a way that
made them feel unsafe during the past year

6. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Locations
• Has this happened in certain location/under certain
circumstances, during past year?
Expose Grope/Fondle Follow Verbal Nonverbal
On the street 5.6 5.6 16.7 27.8 33.3
In a park 11.1 5.6 0 11.1 11.1
On public transit 11.1 27.8 0 5.6 22.2
In a public transit station 5.6 5.6 0 11.1 16.7
On way to work 5.6 5.6 5.6 11.1 11.1
On way to school 11.1 5.6 11.1 5.6 11.1
On way to social event 11.1 11.1 5.6 16.7 22.2
on a college campus 5.6 5.6 0 5.6 11.1
IN a well lit area 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1
In a pooly lit area 22.2 5.6 0 5.6 5.6
In a city 27.8 22.2 16.7 22.2 33.3
In a suburb/outside of a city 5.6 5.6 11.1 16.7 16.7
In a manufacturing area 5.6 0 5.6 5.6 11.1
In a retail/sales/shopping area 0 5.6 5.6 11.1 5.6
Around a lot of other people 11.1 11.1 5.6 11.1 16.7
Alone, or isolated 5.6 0 5.6 5.6 11.1
Late at night 0 0 11.1 16.7 11.1
During the day 11.1 0 5.6 11.1 16.7
While dressed up 0 0 11.1 11.1 16.7
While dressed "down" or casually 11.1 0 5.6 11.1 11.1

7. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Emotions
• Street harassment of any kind seems to result in strong feelings of anger
and fear--but anxiety is primarily rooted in the actions of groping,
exposure and following/stalking.
• Groping/fondling and verbal harassment are the most likely to lead to
feelings of depression.
• A common refrain is that women secretly find harassment to be flattering.
– Although some women do seem to feel this way, it is a negligible amount
• Some women report feeling no emotional reactions to street harassment,
although they are the minority.
• It is important to distinguish between trends (i.e., street harassment has
strong effects on negative emotions) and possibilities/outliers (i.e., some
women will indeed feel nothing at all, or even flattered, by it)

8. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Behavioral impact
% of respondents
saying "yes"
Leave/resign your job? 0.00
Not attend/skip work? 50.00
Refuse or not accept work/job? 66.67
Miss school or skip classes? 42.86
Be late to school or work? 57.14
Have to or want to move homes? 57.14
Have to or want to move cities? 42.86
Not go out to a social outing or event (bar, restaurant, movies, etc.)? 42.86
Not go out at night? 57.14
Have to move cities? 0.00
Feel distracted at school or work? 42.86
Change your behavior/relationship with friends or loved ones? 57.14
Choose to take a different route home or to your destination? 100.00
Choose to take different transportation (e.g., call a cab instead of walking/taking the bus)? 85.71
Choose not to show public affection with a partner or significant other? 28.57
Take self-defense classes (formally or on your own) to protect yourself? 28.57
Carry a weapon? 14.29
Change what you were wearing? 85.71
Avoid a city or area? 71.43
Change changed the time you left an event or location? 85.71
Join a support network either online or in person? 33.33
Call the police or security? 16.67
Not socialize or interacte with a person? 71.43
Avoid an area of your town or city specifically? 85.71

9. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Behavioral impact
• Over half of respondents noted that they changed their
clothing, completely avoided an area, changed the
time they left an event, or avoided socializing because
of street harassment (or the fear of it).
• All of the respondents reported taking a different route
home or to their destination.
• Half of the respondents skipped work--or even moved
cities--because of harassment.
• About 57% of respondents noted that they were late to
school or work, which could have major economic
effects on both business performance and on personal
finances.

10. Bosnian/Herzegovinian Women under
age 40: Bystanders and communication
• 50% of harassment occurs without witnesses
willing to help.
– When people do stop to help, it is likely to make
victims feel better.
• Women are most likely to talk to friends over any
other outlet about their harassment experiences.
• None of the respondents reported speaking to
school personnel, managers or bosses, or police
about their experiences.

11. Bosnian/Herzegovinian women under
age 40: General demographic notes
• Highly educated (81% reported a college or
Master’s/Professional degree)
• More than half (56%) reported a perception of
having somewhat more wealth than average
• Not highly engaged with street harassment
(35.3% have visited Hollaback! online)
• See spreadsheet for more demographics