A summary conviction will carry a sentence of up to 1 year in prison and/or a fine. And a more serious offence, tried in the Crown Court, would carry a sentence of up to 2 years in prison. Girls are just effervescent they’re like, yes! They don’t have an option to talk about sexual harassment, sexism and gender double standards. They don’t feel necessarily comfortable doing it with the teachers because they feel like they’ll get in trouble.”

By taking decisive action and working closely with Gina Martin and other campaigners, we have ensured more people are protected from this degrading and humiliating practice. In June 2021, the Department of Education announced that school and college leaders will be provided with training and support to deal with sexual harassment.Understanding how perceptions of safety can be improved, and incidents of harassment and threatening behaviour reduced in public spaces across Cambridgeshire. More + However, following concerns raised by victims that not all instances of ‘upskirting’ were covered by current law, the government acted to create a new, specific offence.

In 2017, Gina and her sister attended British Summertime, a family-friendly daytime festival in London. At 5pm, in a crowd of over 60,000 people, they were standing next to a group of men who were overstepping the mark when interacting with Gina and her sister, including making jokes that then turned into more vulgar and sexual comments. To Gina’s horror, she then caught a glimpse of one of the group's phones and on it was a picture of her crotch. Upskirting is a harmful and humiliating form of abuse and often has a devastating impact on all aspects of the victim’s life. We have long been calling, along with the campaigner Gina Martin and a cross-party of MPs, for upskirting to be recognised as a sexual offence. The Ministry of Justice has listened to campaigners’ calls for action on this issue and taken decisive action. Following the bill gaining Royal Assent this week, upskirting is now a criminal offence. However, existing criminal law does not necessarily cover every instance of ‘upskirting.’ Creating a specific ‘upskirting’ offence would strengthen the law in this area, as it doesn’t have the same limitations as existing offences. The Voyeurism Act allows this intrusive behaviour to be treated as a sexual offence and, ensure that the most serious offenders are made subject to notification requirements (commonly referred to as the ‘sex offenders register’). A report from UN Women UK has shown that 71 per cent of women of all ages have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space.The new law captures instances where the purpose is to obtain sexual gratification or cause humiliation, distress or alarm. Today, the Voyeurism Act comes into effect and I’m so happy. Finally we have a fit-for-purpose law that protects against every instance of upskirting - as we should have always had. Beyond Equality also provide teacher training to help teachers at the frontline in the fight against gender-based violence and misogyny. The latest statistics from ONS have shown 177 women were murdered in England and Wales between April 2020 to March 2021. The Voyeurism Act creates 2 new offences to make the act of upskirting a specific criminal offence.