by Charlène Calderaro
While gender-based violence is increasingly addressed through public policy, it also follows a process of ‘othering’ marked by racialisation in many European contexts. This racialisation process is particularly evident when examining the problem of gender-based violence in public spaces, for example, street harassment, where sexism is often attributed to migrant men or men from ethnic minorities. However, the extent of this racialisation process varies significantly across national contexts, as exemplified in our case studies in Britain and France, which I describe below.
My recently published article in Policy & Politics, ‘The racialisation of sexism: how race frames shape anti-street harassment policies in Britain and France’, shows that the racialisation of sexism in policy-making against gender-based violence can be exacerbated by nationally embedded ideas on race and racism. It also suggests that, by extension, these different conceptions on race can affect the ability to prevent femonationalism, which refers to the increasing use of women’s rights to foster nationalism or racial exclusion.
Through an empirical study conducted with policymakers and feminist activists involved in anti-street harassment policies in Britain and France, the article comparatively explores how street harassment is framed during policy-making. It focuses on the pre-adoption phases of the policy, analysing how policy actors conceive the problem of street harassment, as well as its causes and solutions.
These findings reveal that the contrasting approaches to race that prevail in each context significantly impact how policymakers frame the problem of street harassment. Race repertoires can be defined as frames and representations around race and racism that orient policy actors to assign them different levels of priority in policymaking. The French race repertoire is often characterised as ‘race-neutral’ whereas the British race repertoire is more race-conscious. While the effects of these differences on race-related policies has been well documented, there is still limited research on their implications for policies addressing gender-based violence.
In France, policymakers who developed the policy criminalising street harassment were not neutral towards race. Instead, they employed racialised representations of street harassers while disregarding the racist experiences of street harassment faced by some women or minorities. Additionally, they actively ignored the potential risk of racial targeting associated with the criminalisation of street harassment, despite concerns raised by feminist activists during the consultation process. These findings suggest that the French race repertoire, assumed to be ‘colour-blind’, actually operated as a racism-blind repertoire.
By contrast, in Britain, feminist campaigners and policymakers involved in the policy discussions framed street harassment as an intersectional issue involving both sexism and racism. Policymakers committed to the cause showed an awareness of racism and of the risk of racial targeting associated with the policing of street harassment. Although this acknowledgment of racism remains primarily discursive at this stage and refers to the problem definition phase, the stark contrast between the two contexts partly arises from the differing approaches to race and racism prevailing in each country. While French policymakers disregarded racism during the policy process and employed racialised representations of the perpetrators, their British counterparts acknowledged the existence of racism and its potential implications.
The article highlights the need for further comparative studies to explore how specific national characteristics may contribute to the development of femonationalism. Such research can provide valuable insights into the complexity of this phenomenon and have relevance for practitioners, campaigners and policymakers working to address gender-based violence.
You can read the original research in Policy & Politics at
Calderaro, C. (2023). The racialisation of sexism: how race frames shape anti-street harassment policies in Britain and France. Policy & Politics, 51(3), 413-438 from https://doi.org/10.1332/030557321X16832763188290
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