The women of The Bahamas are ready to Hollaback! and call out sexual harassment in their community.
Alicia Wallace has a long history of fighting for women’s rights in The Bahamas, so a partnership with the global Hollaback! movement seemed like a match made in heaven. She cofounded the Bahamian chapter in April of 2014 which currently uses funds from the personal income of its founders for guest lectures, print materials, and campaigns on social media.
Hollaback! Bahamas’ new campaign is working toward a safe spaces initiative. They’ve named the program STARR which stands for STARR: Safe space (with) Trustworthy management and staff (who) Act as an intermediary between community and Hollaback! Bahamas (to) Respond to complaints of inappropriate interaction (and) Report to Hollaback! Bahamas in a timely fashion. The STARR program will train staff in local bars, eateries, and shops on how to respond to gender-based harassment and violence, which will help increase the patronage of those shops while keeping women safe, and create a source of funding for Hollaback! Bahamas. Who wouldn’t want to be a STARR-ed business?
The funds from this Awesome Without Borders grant will go toward producing training material and videos; logo design and brand graphics; design and print door/window decals, poster-size pledges, and resource material. All of this will be used for on-site training of public spaces in the STARR program, and to increase the visibility of Hollaback! Bahamas in their community.
To keep up with the amazing work being done by Hollaback! Bahamas, you can follow their Twitter or Facebook.
Stay strong, Bahamas, and don’t forget to Hollaback!