Jess Rawnsley speaks to three women working for a better Hackney.
Farah Benis, manager of the CatCalls of London campaign
Farah Benis has been running the CatCalls of London Instagram account since 2017. The campaign confronts street harassment using chalk art. The public send submissions into the account and Farah chalks them on the pavement in the places where the incidents happened, attempting to reclaim the spaces and raise awareness of the ubiquity of street harassment.
“The idea, of course, is to instigate change. Make people understand the extent and severity of street-based harassment. That it’s not just a wolf-whistle or a small compliment, it’s an invasion of personal space, being followed, having very sexually-charged comments shouted at you in public.”
The campaign, Farah says, was spurred by “years of harassment, everywhere from the office to the streets”. Drawing inspiration from the CatCalls of New York account, she decided this was something that the streets of London needed, too.
Public harassment is rife in the UK, but still not classed as a legal offence. If you are a woman, it’s likely you’ve been on the receiving end of a catcall. Research from 2016 found that 64 per cent of women of all ages have experienced unwanted sexual harassment in public. Among 18-24-year-olds the percentage increased to 85 per cent.
Are people aware of how common street harassment is? “There are a lot of people who have no idea about this, or how bad it is,” Farah says. “I put on Chalk Back events, where people can come along, chalk their stories and talk about it. A lot of people walk past, and I couldn’t tell you the amount of times I hear, especially from middle-aged men, that they just had no idea how bad it was.”
Farah says the campaign is about raising awareness, but also encouraging people to step in when they see harassment. She believes educating younger generations is critical to changing cultural attitudes: “I believe that change is going to come with the next generation. I run workshops with youth clubs and give talks in schools that cover harassment, consent, rape culture, grassroots campaigning.”
And what are the kinds of reports that get sent into the account? “Everything from comments about weight, breast size, racially charged comments. A really disturbing trend is that the majority of submissions I receive come from under 18-year-olds and the perpetrators are almost always adult men”.
Farah has received backlash since beginning the campaign, particularly online. “I’ve had my personal information put online, received rape threats, nasty messages criticising my looks and weight, telling me I should be grateful for the compliments I receive. It underlines how ingrained it is in our society that women are fair game, whether it’s on the streets or on the internet.”
Nonetheless, Farah believes it is both worthwhile and necessary. “There are now accounts in the US, South America, all over Europe, Africa, Australia, India. It’s really become a global movement. It shows how much this resonates with women no matter where you are.”
Nichola Lauder, Director of MindCHWF
Starting as a volunteer therapist at MindCHWF, a mental health charity in Hackney, Nichola Lauder is now director. “It’s been quite a journey,” she says.
One of the projects she’s pioneered is IRIE Mind: an African and Caribbean mental health service. “I know black people are overrepresented in mental health services and I thought I could make a difference. Statistics say around 90% of people within mental health services are black. And I thought actually, it’s been 90% for years, what if I could get it to 89%? Somebody laughed, so I said, watch me, it’s a challenge but it’s one that’s worth doing.”
Why is a specialist service important for the local community? “People want someone who understands them, who can speak their language. I understand they think they might be discriminated against, because I’ve experienced my own discrimination. I can empathise, I can put my feet in their shoes.”
The service has become vital. With year-long NHS waiting lists and limited access to therapy, Mind fills a yawning gap in local mental health services. “Historically the BAME community were offered medication not therapy, now the biggest challenge is waiting lists. A lot of people get stuck in their homes, stuck in their heads. We’ve built a social network. Our clients say, ‘that’s my sister, that’s my brother, this is my family’.”
Nichola has become a role model for many of her clients. “I think seeing a black manager makes a huge difference. If you go into NHS services, there are black staff and people who are African and Caribbean, but you don’t often see people in management,” she says.
Alongside running IRIE Mind services, including a weekly African and Caribbean cooking group and a walk-in centre, Nichola leads two women’s groups. One for Hackney residents, another in Enfield where she lives.
Mind’s women’s group have pampering sessions and talking therapy. “A lot of women in our group have very low self-esteem, and they feel there aren’t any role models from the black community. We try to inspire them and get them to think on a different level: that the colour of your skin should not dictate what you can or can’t do.”
What are some of the challenges facing women in Hackney? “Isolation. And a lot of women aren’t good at sharing because of a lack of trust. Something you’ll find in the black community is that people don’t want to talk about their mental health.”
The best thing about her job, Nichola says, is the autonomy. “I love the flexibility of being able to listen to my clients and create the services they want. If someone comes in and says they have trouble opening mail, the following week we’ll start an ‘open your mail day’.”
“I want to see people have better lives. You can have madness, low mood, and still have a good life. I want everybody to talk about mental health, because we may not all have mental ill health, but we’ve all got mental health. Everybody’s on that spectrum. It’s about your ability to cope with life. Some are just better at it than others.”
Nicolette Nixon, manager of Gascoyne and Morningside Youth Club and chair of Morningside Tenants and Residents Association
Nicolette Nixon has played an integral role in her community for over two decades. In a nod to her unwavering dedication, she was awarded a Hackney Mayor’s Civic Award last year.
Since 2000, Nicolette has been running the Gascoyne and Morningside Youth Club in Homerton. As part of the club, she set up HOPE, a market stall run by youth members. The group sells handmade products in markets across Hackney, from bath bombs to T-shirts. Everything is made by the children.
“We work in partnership with the Hackney Markets team so we can go to any market in Hackney. And we work with a local academy and business owners who teach the kids how to cost, how to order stock, how to manage stock. It’s a proper apprenticeship and we’ve got kids as young as eight or nine doing it. They’re really brilliant.”
The budding entrepreneurs have been recognised twice at the National Youth Market awards. “In 2018, they went to the Youth Market awards and they were too young to win so they made a special commendation for them. And last year at the regional finals in Westminster, they again got highly commended because they were too young, but the judge wanted them to win and kept saying ‘Why? They’re the best stall’,” Nicolette laughs.
How does the project help the kids? “Confidence is the main thing. They’ve got the ability to talk to anybody now. It gives them entrepreneurial skills: essentially they know how to run a business. You’ve got 11-year-olds who know how to set up a stall, how to interact with the public, how to sell items. And it’s mainly girls who are doing it. They’d work seven days a week if they could. They’re a real force.”
Nicolette says she struggles to find funding to keep the youth group afloat but believes it plays an important role in the youngsters’ lives: “Young people need to be occupied, and they need to be occupied positively. I don’t think education is as good as it used to be. And when you’re struggling, not being listened to, you misbehave. Our club’s been here for 20 years so there’s continuity, there’s structure, there are rules. Young people thrive on that. And they input as well: they can put forward ideas, they run sessions, it’s their club and they look after it.”
As well as championing Hackney’s children, Nicolette supports local residents as chair of the Morningside Tenants and Residents Association. She uses her background in family law to offer advice and help residents negotiate with their landlords. “We hold the landlords to account quite strongly — a lot of letters, and I’ll go to meetings with residents because it can be quite intimidating.”
“We’re in the middle of negotiating taking back ownership of our community centre. We want to set up a charity so the estate can run it, so we can choose as a community what we want in our hall.”
What’s her advice to the next generation of women? “Just keep trying. If you’re knocked back, get up and keep going because you can achieve, you can change things, but you’ve got to keep going.”
