The new laws would outlaw men from following women in the street and repeatedly asking for their numbers, the Times reports. A working committee to that effect has been set by Marlène Schiappa, the country’s the under-secretary for gender equality, and five MPs has been asked to provide a legal definition of street harassment and to decide what penalties offenders should face.
“The idea is to characterise street harassment so that the police can impose fines on men who follow women on the streets, intimidate them and harass them in public space,” Schiappa told local newspapers. “It is a cultural struggle to bring down the tacit consensus of acceptance of violence.”
