FOCUS – The Angela system is being developed in France to help victims of harassment in public spaces to find safety. Grenoble Alpes Métropole is no exception. After being deployed in Grenoble in spring 2024, the system is making its appearance in businesses, starting with the E. Leclerc shopping gallery at Espace Comboire, in Échirolles. A start because ten other municipalities have already responded to the call to put it in place.
« Eight out of ten women are afraid of going out alone in the evening », recalled Amandine Demore, mayor of Echirolles, on December 17, 2024, on the occasion of the implementation of the Angela system in the E. Lerclerc shopping mall, in Comboire. And ” nine out of ten women say they adopt behaviors to avoid sexist behavior from men », added Christophe Ferrari, president of Grenoble Alpes Métropole.
Figures which prompted the metropolis to extend the Angela system, which fights against street harassment and, more broadly, in public spaces. A solution already deployed in Grenoble since spring 2024. The targets of this action? Women but also LGBT people. The places targeted? The busiest spaces, especially shopping centers.
The managers of the E. Leclerc Comboire gallery with Christophe Ferrari and Amandine Demore, during the presentation of the implementation of the Angela system, December 17, 2024. © Morgane Poulet – Place Gre’net
Located in the heart of the most active commercial area of the Grenoble metropolis – with four million visitors per year – the E. Lerclerc hypermarket is committed to “ contribute to a safer environment for everyone “. Supermarkets have a role to play, Christophe Ferrari recalled, because “it was a hypermarket security guard who arrested Dominique Pelicot”. Some of the merchants in the shopping mall also adhere to the system.
“Where is Angela?” » will discreetly activate the device
“Where is Angela?” A simple question that can be addressed to the staff of the drugstore, the catering center, the reception, the checkouts and the textile team, next to the fitting rooms. She will discreetly activate the Angela system which fights against harassment in public spaces.
The drugstore is one of the reception points for the Angela system. © Morgane Poulet – Place Gre’net
The staff trained beforehand – through thirty-minute videoconference sessions – will be able, in this way, to shelter the harassed person and offer them a safe environment, the time to escape from their harasser.
A system destined to expand
In Grenoble Alpes Métropole, eleven municipalities have already responded to Christophe Ferrari’s call: Echirolles, Eybens, Fontaine, Grenoble, Meylan, Pont-de-Claix, Saint-Égrève, Saint-Martin-d’Hères, Sassenage, Seyssins and Veurey-Voroize. Different establishments can apply to join the system: shopping centers, but also public or leisure facilities as well as local shops.
The catering center is one of the reception points of the Angela system. © Morgane Poulet Place Gre’net
The president of the metropolis, however, wants the system to develop in all other municipalities in the Grenoble metropolitan area. “ The public service is also set up by private actors. We must now make this system known so that it becomes a reflex for all victims of harassment. “, he concluded.
The E. Leclerc reception is one of the reception points of the Angela system. © Morgane Poulet – Place Gre’net
Gender-based and sexual violence in figures
In France, travelers reported 4,091 sexual and gender-based attacks in 2023. An increase of 15.7% compared to 2022.
40% of women aged 20 to 24 explain having been the subject of “ unwelcome flirting ».
Nine out of ten women say they anticipate men’s sexist actions and comments by adopting avoidance behaviors so as not to have to endure them. Thus, 55% of them give up going out and doing activities alone. 52% do not dress the way they want.
