“There is power in numbers; band together to do bigger things.”

Sara Naseem is from Malé in the Maldives. She’s the founder of 'Nufoshey' which means 'Do Not Harass'. It is an initiative aimed at creating a space where women can share their stories and make a stand against harassment.

“It was through conversations I had with friends about just how being women and public spaces in this country is difficult and especially as a young woman,” she says. “ “I think it was something that I was understanding more and more and then being able to compare the differences of being here and somewhere else.”

Sara wanted to do something that would help bring about change. 

“With a couple of friends, we started an online space where women could come and talk about their experiences of street harassment,” she says.

Sara says this simple gathering became transformative. 

“It was the first time that women had been able to talk about these issues,” she says. “In the Maldives, like in a lot of other places, we have this idea that a lot of harassment and abuse women face is just of the cost being a woman.”

Sara says the reality of being a woman in the Maldives is attracting unwanted attention. She says men feel entitled to use unsolicited sexual language and advances to any woman they want. 

“I think it really helped for a lot of women to be able to say, ‘No, this is not okay and it shouldn't be happening to me!’”

“I think it really helped for a lot of women to be able to say, ‘No, this is not okay and it shouldn't be happening to me!’”

She says there are several reasons for this epidemic of harassment in the Maldives.

“It is an unquestioned cultural attitude,”she says. “People use excuses like ‘cultural values’, that it’s something that's ‘in our culture.’”

She points to the growing extremism in the Maldives and the 50 year decline of women in public roles as examples that the culture of oppression of women is not inherently cultural, but rather the assault is being encouraged by retrograde conservative beliefs.

Sara says gaps in the education system play a role in harassment. 

“We have an education system that has ingrained the stereotypes that we associate with men and women,” Sara says. “Children are taught to answer questions by rote and they aren't taught about themselves or their bodies. There's no sexual reproductive health curriculum.”

“We have an education system that has ingrained the stereotypes that we associate with men and women.”

She says these gender normative roles encourage boys in predatory behavior and reinforces notions of girls being docile. 

“Huge changes need to happen in how we educate children,” she says. “They need to know about who they are themselves,  they need to know about consent. These gender identities need to change for people to start respecting each other more.”

”These gender identities need to change for people to start respecting each other more.”

Nufoshey started out creating spaces where women were able to send in their stories and this would create conversations. They moved on to campaigns where the focus was on bystanders. The idea was to share possible ways people could intervene in these abusive conversations and what they could do to help women who are facing harassment in the streets. 

“We started creating spaces where men can talk about these issues,” she says. “The ideas that they have about harassment. How they felt when they were in a group of friends who were doing it and how they weren't able to take a stand because sometimes you just don't know what to say.”

Sara says the responses from young men who also wanted to shift the culture of harassment gave her hope. 

“A lot of it is about giving people the language to talk about these issues,” she says. “I think sometimes when you're brought up in a community where some of these issues aren't even identified as issues, we lack the language to talk about it.”

While she is inspired by more young people who speak out against violence, Sara says odious beliefs still dominate politics in her county.

“A member of the parliament in one of his speeches said, ‘Women's rights activists are like termites and they should be eradicated,’” she says. “This language is pervasive in every aspect of society,  even in our Parliament. It’s not just online spaces.”

Despite the veiled threats of violence from political leaders, Sara is hopeful about the progress she’s seen in just 5 years.

“Things really changed,” she says. “ This shift has given me the space to work with other women's rights groups. We connect on this issue of harassment that women face and then work with them on campaigns where we protest and work together.”

“We connect on this issue of harassment that women face and then work with them on campaigns where we protest and work together.”

Sara says the first step is building a shared understanding that harassment is not okay. 

“By normalizing that harassment is something that happens and that it is wrong,” she says, “we were able to start a lot of other conversations that equip people with the language to respond to it.”

“By normalizing that harassment is something that happens and that it is wrong, we were able to start a lot of other conversations that equip people with the language to respond to it.”

Nufoshey is working to create conversations and to engage men and other allies. They are part of an ongoing campaign called Fund our Safety, demanding the state to adequately fund women’s services like clinics and shelters. 

Her advice to other activists: “There is power in numbers,” she says. “Band together to do bigger things.”