What’s the problem and why does it matter?

Gender inequality is still an issue that affects many aspects of our lives, including how public spaces are designed and used.

Too often public spaces are planned and designed around the ideal of a ‘neutral male norm’ that reflect traditional gender norms. As a result many of our towns and cities work better for men than they do for women and girls, as the needs, interests and routines of women and girls are ignored.

For disabled women, ethnic minority women, LGBTQ+ women, our public spaces can be even more inaccessible and unwelcoming.

Poorly designed public spaces, including public transport, can create barriers to paid employment and education, barriers to accumulating wealth and achieving economic independence and can prevent particular groups from exercising agency in public decision-making. As a result some people enjoy fewer social freedoms and spend more on basic services.

There are three main areas in which the built environment can reinforce inequality – access, mobility and safety.

Access: typical planning, zoning and land use policies create legal divisions between “commercial” zones of production, commerce, income generation and public life; and “residential zones”. These divisions of space are often rooted in gendered divisions of labour.

For women, who do the majority of unpaid work and care, poor links between these zones can leave them with greater distances to travel on transport that is not designed with their needs in mind.

Mobility: transport systems are often designed around male-dominated commuter patterns, ignoring the needs of women and carers. We rarely gather data to fully understand how women are using transport systems, safety is a significant concern on public transport and fare systems can disadvantage those who need to make multiple, short trips.

Safety: safety is a key concern for women in public spaces. Too often little consideration is given to issues such as lighting, sanitation or safe walking routes when towns and cities are being designed. Violence against women in public has been found to most likely occur at and around toilets, at schools, in bars and in secluded areas.

What are the solutions?

To deliver safe and inclusive public spaces we need to change who is making planning decisions, change how these decisions are made, make better use of legislative levers and change how we measure success. We need to:

  • Challenge assumptions based on the idea of the ‘neutral’ male
  • Address gender data gaps and challenge gender bias
  • Improve representation of women and other diverse groups in the planning profession and make better laws and regulations
  • Put in place systems and processes that mainstream equality into decision-making – i.e. tools and ways of working that mean women’s needs are considered and addressed

Steps can be taken now to help drive these changes:

  • Training for planners and those involved in designing public spaces
  • Requirements placed on developers to consider gender equality when they are designing new projects
  • Inclusive and thorough consultation with the local community in all its diversity
  • Use of engagement tools such as women’s safety audits to hear from those with lived experience
  • Collection of disaggregated data and evidence to support better decisions and monitor use of public places and transport

Changes to public transport and public spaces would make them safer and more inclusive:

  • Better lighting in all public places and walking routes
  • Integrated fares on public transport to enable multiple trips
  • Training for public transport staff in relation to sexual harassment, including Active Bystander training
  • Accessible public toilets available in all public places
  • Accessible and adequate recreational facilities for children in public spaces
  • Partnerships with police and those working in the night time economy to tackle sexual harassment and violence against women

How you can help.

The lived experience and safety of all women and girls need to be a focus in the way decisions about public spaces and public transport are made.

We’re calling on Wales’ 22 local authority leaders to take action to ensure that public spaces in Wales are safe and inclusive for all women.

Click on the different ways you can help to find out more information…

Write to your local councillor

We have drafted a letter that you can use to send to your local councillor.

Download our draft letter

Please download our suggested letter and simply personalise it with your local councillors name, your local area and your name. Or feel free to amend it to highlight your lived experience in your local area.

You can download our word document here - draft letter to local councillors

You can find your local councillor and contract them through the following website:

https://www.writetothem.com/

or you can find your local councillor and their contact information through the following website:

Your Councillors : Cardiff Council (moderngov.co.uk)

Sign our petition

We’re calling on Wales’ 22 local authority leaders to take action to ensure that public spaces in Wales are safe and inclusive for all women.

Sign this petition

Local Authority leaders must:

  • Recognise that public spaces are not currently safe and inclusive for all women
  • Improve engagement and consultation with women from diverse backgrounds to understand different needs and experiences
  • Change how planning decisions are made, by mainstreaming equality at every stage of the design and development of public spaces
Follow our campaign

#PlanningForWomen

Whether you’ve landed on this page because of something you’ve seen on our social channels or because you opened our newsletter we would love for you to follow, like and share across your social channels using #PlanningForWomen

Feel free to download and use some of our campaign graphics

Download our graphics

What is a safety walk?

The purpose of a safety walk is to enable decision-makers to understand how women and other marginalised groups experience public spaces.

Following a pre-planned route, women are able to explain any challenges they face in that space and point out issues that leave them feeling unsafe. A safety walk can be conducted with local politicians, planning officers, developers or anyone involved in making decisions about how a public space will be designed.

There is plenty of online guidance about safety walks, some useful resources include:

Guide to conducting a women’s safety walk: https://www.nutritioncluster.net/sites/nutritioncluster.com/files/2020-01/Participatory-Safety-Walk-Guide.docx

Women’s Safety Walk: https://www.reflectionaction.org/tools_and_methods/64/?from=ov