Why Should We Ask for Angela When You Don’t Have to Ask for Alex? By ElsaMarie D’Silva Copyright © 2025 IPS-Inter Press Service.

https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/08/why-should-we-ask-for-angela-when-you-dont-have-to-ask-for-alex/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latin_Americas_Electric_Mobility_on_Chinas_Path_Africas_LandLinked_Nations_Chart_a_New_Trade_Route_t MUMBAI, India, Aug 7 2025 (IPS) - It’s a quiet code with a loud message: “Ask for Angela.” In bars and clubs across the UK, women have been informed to discreetly use this phrase if they feel unsafe – a signal to staff that they need help escaping a situation with a man that could escalate. It is a clever, compassionate intervention that has been adopted widely. But during a recent trip to the UK to share my work on making public spaces safer for women, I noticed something odd. Many men proudly brought up this initiative as proof that progress was being made. And I could not help but think: Why should women have to ask for Angela, when men never have to ask for Alex? Copyright © 2025 IPS-Inter Press Service.