WOMEN's SAFETY at NIGHT: Leila Farina Supervisors
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WOMEN’S SAFETY AT NIGHT: Insights into the perception of safety and travel decision making of women from Brussels and Recife. Leila Farina Supervisors: Anna Plyushteva & Kobe Boussauw Master thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Studies (VUB) and Master of Science in Geography, general orientation, track ‘Urban Studies’ (ULB) Date of submission: 12 August 2019 “So while I can enjoy the fact that dressing more androgynous is somehow beneficial, I also wonder if I am a traitor to myself. It makes so much more sense to me to live in a world where being a woman is a powerful thing; a world where women don't need to camouflage their genders just so they can walk around at night. I don't want to disappear. I want to be seen”. (Arzia Tivany Wargadiredja) 2 Acknowledgments Initially, I thank my thesis’ supervisors, Anna Plyushteva and Kobe Boussauw, for their patience, encouragement and shared knowledge. I also would like to thank the MUS team for their guidance and flexibility during the two years of study and my classmates for sharing good and bad moments, following the same journey. As well, I thank Karbon' architecture et urbanisme team, for showing interest in my research and for the flexibility given, which made it possible to write the present thesis during my internship period there. I dedicate an especial thanks to all the women who participated in this study, by answering the questionnaires and to all the friends who shared it with their social network, especially Besnik Gjonpalaj, Zeynep Balci, Rabia Uslu and Bleri Lleshi. Also, I would like to thank all the women who volunteered and agreed to be interviewed for this work, devoting their time to help my research. All the constructive comments were also very appreciated, thanks to all that commented on my research, always aiming to bring improvements and new inspirations. Thanks a lot to my roommates, Romane Mahieu and Alessia Italiano, which offered a valuable help during the whole thesis period. For always offering their moral support, for sharing my research and for the French translating guidance, I thank both. I also would like to thank once again my wonderful partner, Besnik Gjonpalaj, for all the kindness, help, given comments, encouragement and love shared throughout this process. Finally, I thank my dear parents and brother, Jane, Gustavo and Mateus, for always being by my side, supporting and helping me at all times. Thanks for all dedication and love, without them concluding this Master’s degree would not be possible. 3 Table of contents List of figures .................................................................................................................................... 6 List of tables ..................................................................................................................................... 6 List of graphs .................................................................................................................................... 6 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ 8 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 9 1.1. Prologue .................................................................................................................................. 10 1.2. Hypotheses and Research question ...................................................................................... 12 1.3. Methodological procedures................................................................................................... 14 2. CONTEXTUALISING THE PROBLEM ............................................................................................ 16 2.1. The urban night ...................................................................................................................... 17 2.2. Fear of crime ........................................................................................................................... 20 2.3. Crime and built environment................................................................................................. 22 2.4. Women and perception of safety .......................................................................................... 25 2.5. Transport and safety issues ................................................................................................... 28 3. CITIES AND PEOPLE .................................................................................................................... 32 3.1. Why comparing the two cities ............................................................................................... 33 3.2. Recife ...................................................................................................................................... 34 3.3. Brussels ................................................................................................................................... 38 3.4. Target groups ......................................................................................................................... 41 3.4.1. Questionnaires ................................................................................................................. 41 3.4.2. Semi structured interviews .............................................................................................. 45 4. WOMEN’S PERCEPTION OF SAFETY AT NIGHT: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH ......................... 47 4.1. Night habits............................................................................................................................. 48 4.2. Neighbourhoods ..................................................................................................................... 49 4.3. Safety impressions: the relation to previous negative incidents ......................................... 57 4.3.1. Previous events and social forces ..................................................................................... 57 4.3.2. Fear affecting night habits ................................................................................................ 61 4.4. Public environment: physical and social aspects .................................................................. 63 4.5. Mobility choices at night and perception of safety .............................................................. 69 4 4.5.1. Mobility habits at night ..................................................................................................... 69 4.5.2. Relevant factors influencing mobility decision at night ................................................. 71 4.5.3. Feelings when travelling at night ..................................................................................... 73 4.5.4. Women’s-only transportations......................................................................................... 77 4.6. Feeling safer at night .............................................................................................................. 80 4.6.1. Personal strategies ............................................................................................................ 80 4.6.2. Suggested measures ........................................................................................................ 83 5. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 88 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 92 7. APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................. 100 5 List of figures Figure 1 Recife (in purple) and Brussels (in blue), maps in the same scale ............................... 34 Figure 2 Locating Recife on the map ............................................................................................ 34 Figure 3 Locating Brussels on the map ......................................................................................... 38 Figure 4 SafetiPin in New Delhi .................................................................................................... 51 Figure 5 Maps of Recife and Brussels identifying the neighbourhoods that women commonly go and the ones they would avoid at night ................................................................................. 56 Figure 6 Women’s wagon in Recife ............................................................................................. 78 Figure 7 Women’s wagon in Tokyo ............................................................................................... 78 List of tables Table 1 Number of crimes and offences reported in Recife in 2015 and 2016 ......................... 38 Table 2 Number of crimes and offences reported in Brussels Capital Region in 2017 .............. 41 Table 3 Neighbourhoods women commonly go out at night ..................................................... 52 Table 4 Neighbourhoods women would avoid at night .............................................................. 54 Table 5 Elements influencing perception of safety in Recife and in Brussels ............................ 63 Table 6 Choice of transportation in Recife ................................................................................... 69 Table