Kazakh schoolgirls launch website to help women fight harassment

Women in Kazakhstan, and all over the world, face sexual harassment. This can happen anywhere — at work, while studying, at parties.

How can this be stopped if there's no one to talk to or ask for help? Two 17-year-old girls from Almaty might have an answer. Dinara Kalikhan and Asyl Narsha, who study at the Republican Physics and Mathematics School have developed Table 99 — a program to protect Kazakhstanis from unpleasant attention in public places.

The Table 99 website has a detailed explanation of how the program works:

"If a meeting doesn't go according to plan, you're being harassed, your privacy is violated repeatedly or your safety is otherwise threatened, we'll help. Open the map and find the nearest location marked with a logo. Enter and tell any employee the code phrase: 'Table 99'. One of the employees will help you by calling the police, showing you another way out of the building, or taking you to a safe place."

The project was launched recently along with a website, but the mobile application is still being tested. It should launch in the App Store and Play Market in March or April of this year. There will be various functions, including a route, siren and SOS button that will immediately call a loved one. One Almaty restaurant has already joined the project. By May of this year, another 20 to 30 should be connected.

Dinara and Asyl told Informburo.kz how they came up with the idea.

"One Saturday evening, while we were watching the news on TV, our hearts suddenly sank. A journalist was talking about the horrific rape and murder of a young girl. We imagined ourselves in the place of that poor girl who fought for her life," Dinara said. "What did she feel at that moment? Was she scared, angry, or frustrated that no one could help her? What were her last thoughts? "

In order to analyze the relevance of their project, Dinara and Asyl conducted a survey among more than 100 girls. The majority of girls surveyed, 72 percent, said they faced harassment in various forms. Ninety-two percent confirmed they do not feel safe in public places and 72 percent said they were afraid to walk alone at night.

These findings are confirmed by the results of a study published in November 2021 by MediaNet.

"According to the survey, 69 percent of women believe that harassment can lead to more serious problems - sexual violence, including rape. Of these, 45 percent are convinced that harassment can certainly lead to violence, and 24 percent think that this is likely if harassment is not responded to. Eleven percent disagree and believe that sexual harassment cannot lead to such consequences. Another 20 percent found it difficult to answer," the study reads.

"We came up with the idea in June 2021," Dinara said. "Until September, we made a plan on how we would implement, what needs to be done and how we would negotiate with institutions. In September, we launched our website. Until 2022, we participated in several international competitions to make sure that our ideas and get comments from professionals. Since January, we started developing the application and from this month, we started looking for partners, that is, establishments."

The project won second place at the World Invention Competition and Exhibition, held on Sept 28, and at the International Science and Invention Fair on Oct 26. Members of the international jury praised the idea and shared their recommendations on how it could be made even better.