Young women and girls in Kibera, one of Africa’s largest informal settlements, are writing their street harassment experiences on roads and canvasses to highlight the damaging nature of sexual harassment.
Zubeida Yusuf has lived in Kibera, in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, all her life, and for as long as she can remember, street harassment has been a part of her life.
“Men will say things like: ‘You’re very fat. Is your mother a butcher? Did God use his last piece of clay on you because you have large breasts and a big behind.’
“It’s a lot for us to take in when we walk out here (in the streets),” says the 22-year-old.
But over time, Ms Yusuf has learnt to fight back and she is helping other women in Kibera claim their voices back in situations where some women say they feel powerless.
Using chalk and markers, in a campaign dubbed “Chalk Back”, Ms Yusuf and other girls and women are writing down their experiences of street harassment.
The campaign, they hope, will spur conversations around the damaging nature of street sexual harassment.
“Nowadays, when the men insult me, I stop and ask them to their faces, why they are insulting me. However, for underage girls fighting back may be harder,” she says.
“That’s why campaigns like these are important. More of us need to push back and tell people it is not okay to speak to women this way.”
