SHOW You Care – A youth-led initiative to stop harassment of women in buses

SHOW You Care is a campaign organised for the fourth time to take active measures against the harassment of women in public places, especially when they travel in buses plying Colombo’s numerous routes.

The campaign is organised by Sri Lanka Unites, a movement committed to the cause of youth-led reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka.

The issue of the harassment of women is a challenge and concern which sweeps across ethnic and religious lines. A desire for change is a mutual passion that can contribute towards bringing communities together. Furthermore, it could prove to be a tangible victory in the midst of the long journey towards reconciliation.

Sri Lanka has seen a surge in sexual violence against women during the past few years. According to the Women and Media Collective there has been a 20% rise in rape cases in Sri Lanka. Harassment in public spaces is a manifestation of a far greater epidemic of domestic violence and rape that represents a broader issue of disrespect towards women in our society. Therefore turning a blind eye to blatant sexual harassment in public allows for greater deterioration of the current situation. The sad reality is that the harassment of women in public spaces such as buses has become so much the norm that even women have become desensitised to it. The SHOW You Care campaign has always looked to involve youngsters in the campaign to end harassment of women, where young boys and men board buses journeying through the Colombo District and speak to passengers in all three languages about sexual harassment, how men and women should not be afraid to speak out about it, that sexual harassment is an offence under Section 345 of the Penal Code (up to a five-year imprisonment), the legal action that could be taken and also distributing pocket size information cards to women containing emergency telephone numbers. 

The previous SHOW You Care campaigns have seen school students and volunteers board 1,000 buses in just a week to create awareness about the harassment of women. SHOW You Care 2015 hopes to triple the number of buses by drawing 1,000 youngsters from schools, universities, higher education institutes, youth clubs and any place where there are people interested in making a change.

SHOW You Care is also launching an SMS service to report harassment in buses, track incidents and use this information to alert authorities. Sri Lanka Unites is hoping to collect the data for a period of two weeks and hand it over to the relevant authorities.

The launch of SHOW You Care 2015 will be held on Saturday 8 August at the Open Air Theater, Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo from 4.00 p.m.-6.00 p.m. This includes a panel discussion, the sharing of testimonials, a forum theater performance and the signing of a petition to be given to relevant authorities and Government officials. It will be followed by a press conference for invited current nominees for Parliament who will speak on their commitment to the issue.