Three women had enough with the constant harassment their fellowmen received while walking on the streets and decided to develop a mobile app that reports the said issues. Harass Tracker was launched on Feb. 22 and receives a thumbs up from BBC on December 5, hailing the three creators as those who are part of the 100 most influential women of the year.
The app creators, Sandra Hassan, Myra El Mir and Nay El Rahi, believe that it's time to empower victims of harassment. The platform is a tool where victims or witnesses provide details of the said incident assess what kind of harassment they received and mark their location on where the episode happened.
According to an interview with Newsweek, Hassan told the media that they want to raise awareness as to the frequency and severity of sexual harassment in the city. "In the long term, we hope to use the data collected to offer recommendations on how to tackle this issue practically as well as contribute to a shift in perception with regards with regards to sexual harassment," she continued.
Their idea started and was inspired by a group of feminists in Egypt fighting against sexual harassment. Hassan added that "[It] is one that we are all too familiar with," given that Beirut's state worsened because of the lack of support, reporting and perception of what harassment is.
"We all have experienced sexual harassment...This is a problem faced by women globally," she told Newsweek. The tracker also has services for victims of abuse and offers counseling and legal protection.
The Harass Tracker inspired many feminists around the world to start similar projects. Hassan said that they are looking forward to collaborating with interested feminist groups across the region or elsewhere and providing them with the technical support to implement this project in their own cities should they require it.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
