It’s safe to say that the fear of walking home alone after dark is a shared experience for many women. If you’ve ever felt that rush of adrenaline when navigating through a dark park, or the jittery feeling in your chest when you’re passing through a dimly lit laneway, then we’ve got some good news. A first-of-its-kind interactive map of NSW is currently in the works – the idea is to help pinpoint public places where women commonly feel safe and unsafe.
This is the first stage of the NSW Safer Cities Program, which aims to create more inclusive public spaces and transport hubs for all. A survey conducted by Safer Cities earlier this year found that 59 per cent of women in NSW feel unsafe most or all of the time in public spaces after dark, compared with 32 per cent of men. Importantly, if women felt less at risk, 76 per cent would walk more and 69 per cent would catch public transport more frequently.
Having launched in November 2023, YourGround NSW will rely on anonymous contributions from female-identifying and gender-diverse people to map places where they feel safe and like they belong, or unsafe and excluded. All respondents have to do is pin a spot on the digital map and complete a short survey about the time of day, environment, lighting, busyness and past experiences. People can add as many points as they like before submissions close on February 8, 2024.
YourGround NSW has already received hundreds of entries across metropolitan Sydney and regional NSW. For example, one response read “I feel trapped here,” when describing the poor visibility and low lighting at Blacktown train station.
People are also encouraged to mark public areas where they’ve had positive experiences, such as Darling Square, which one person described as a lively and communal area with sufficient lighting, well-maintained amenities and all-around good vibes.
Once submissions wrap up in February, the data will be crunched and used to shape upcoming policies on transforming NSW into a space that’s more accessible, inclusive and equitable for everyone. Plus, people can use the map to help them figure out the best routes to take when walking at night.
Dr Hannah Tonkin, inaugural NSW Women’s Safety Commissioner, says, “Everyone has a right to feel safe and welcome on our streets, parks, paths and beaches, yet almost two in three women say they do not feel safe at night in NSW. Feeling unsafe can limit people’s ability to access education, employment and services, and to engage fully in their communities.”
Women and gender-diverse people can submit places to the YourGround NSW map until February 8, here.