About six months ago, I was walking home from St Leonards train station in North Sydney along the Pacific Highway after a party and a car pulled up beside me.

It followed me along the kerb, and a man leaned out the window and told me to get inside, first quite piningly and then very aggressively.

I sprinted away before calling my parents, all the while fearing that he might force me into his car. It felt like an unforgettably life-or-death situation, but it's nothing I'm not already used to.

Lauren Lancaster says the experience of being harassed has become normalised for woman, and often from their early teens. ( Supplied: Plan International )

I'm 16 and I've been dealing with sexual harassment on the streets of Sydney for most of my teenage life.

In fact, I have felt unsafe and physically threatened in public spaces since I was about 11.

As a schoolgirl, I was on the train home in the early afternoon, chatting with my friends, all of us in uniform. We noticed an older man at the end of the carriage staring at us, and when my friend came down from the upper level of the carriage to meet us she saw that he was exposing himself and masturbating.

It is an unfortunate truth that nearly every young woman has experienced street harassment. Whether it's hollering, being followed, brushed up against on public transport, or even told to get in a car, women are routinely made to feel unsafe in public spaces.

Data from Plan International's Sexism in the City report, a survey of 500 young women in Sydney released today, suggests such experiences are standard for girls and young women in our city.

Plan International's Sexism in the City report, a survey of 500 young women in Sydney, suggests harassment is standard for girls and young women. ( Supplied )

Street harassment normalised

According to the report, street harassment most commonly begins between 11 and 15.

More than 80 per cent of respondents say they have experienced cat-calling on the streets, 30 per cent have had their path blocked or been touched inappropriately, and a shocking 55 per cent described menacing behaviour by male perpetrators.

Research suggests women who speak up against sexism can feel more empowered. ( Instagram: Pussy Division )

Even for a 16-year-old, it's expected that if you go out by yourself, or with others, you will probably get whistled at, maybe a man will try to touch you, or you'll be propositioned on the street.

Street harassment has become so normalised that too often women don't speak up about it, for fear of being labelled an over-reactor or worse and having the blame laid on us: it's what we're wearing, how we behave, maybe even just because we're out on the street we're asking for it.

Harassment is male privilege at work

Sydney is one of the most liveable cities in the world, but the sad fact is that women are not being afforded the same right to feel safe and comfortable in public spaces that men are.

There is a power dynamic at work. It is one of entitlement and male privilege, and it is a big — albeit often invisible — problem in our cities.

For too long, we have been told to "brush it off", that these small incidents are not important, and that they do not matter enough to warrant any action. It feels as though there are certain conditions to womanhood and being harassed on the street is one that we should just accept.

Plan International's Sexism in the City survey indicates as much, revealing that only one in 13 (7 per cent) of women reported incidents to authorities, while nearly a third of respondents had done nothing.

Half of all Australian women have been sexually harassed, according to the most recent ABS Personal Safety Survey (PPS), involving 21,000 women and men.

Plan International Australia's city safety map for young women allows users to identify locations where they feel unsafe. ( Supplied: Plan International Australia )

Failure to act means we condone harassment

So where do we draw the line? When does street harassment change from inevitable to unacceptable? By failing to adequately and appropriately respond to street harassment, we are condoning it in all its forms.

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Through inaction, we are intrinsically failing to empower women and educate men. By not speaking up, silence is perpetuated and men are not included in a discussion about how women should be treated in public (hint: equally, with respect and with dignity).

I believe that women should feel safe and confident wherever they are, and not have to be on constant guard against threats to their personal and psychological wellbeing.

Plan International Australia's city safety map for young women, Free to Be Sydney, gives me hope we can bring about real change.

The map allows young women to drop pins on places they have been around Sydney and log a positive or negative experience they had there. Its goal is to identify problem spots around Sydney for women, and then deliver these findings to businesses and government.

The map connects young women's immediate experiences to a wider network to push for change and gives us a powerful voice.

It is through using our stories and showing decision-makers what it is like to be a young woman in Sydney that we will see change, rather than just hoping it will get better in the future.

Until the project, it had often felt as though no-one cared enough or could relate to the experiences of my friends and I.

We deserve better than this

That day on the train, we ran to the guard's carriage. He tried to help, stopping the train and calling police, but the man simply got off the train at the next stop and ran away so nothing could be done.

It brought home to me that we girls — your daughters, sisters and friends — could no longer move around the city to get where we need or want to go without being objectified and harassed.

We have felt vulnerable and isolated, uncomfortable and scared — as though we are not welcome in public places. We have found ourselves questioning our own behaviour when really, it is not our fault in the slightest.

What a woman is wearing, or where she is going, is not an invitation for unwanted attention in any way.

We deserve better than this, and we can do better.

Lauren Lancaster is a Plan International Australia youth activist. The Free To Be map is open until May 28.