Women After Dark

Do you have an after dark safety ritual - on the phone, keys in hand, walking on the street instead of the dimly lit footpaths? Well, you’re not alone and that’s part of the problem.

Last month, She Acts, YWCA Canberra’s volunteer group, held an important conversation around the perceptions and the realities of safety and accessibility for women, female identifying and non binary people in Canberra community spaces after dark.

Facilitated by Bess Rossiter, the panel included Romy Listo (PhD candidate on energy-gender nexus, University of Queensland), Mina Khoshnevisan (STOP Campaign), Emma Davidson (Womens Centre for Health Matters) and Cee Moore (Women with Disabilities ACT).

With incredible diversity on the panel came new perspectives and understandings of challenges which many people may not face on a day to day basis. Cee illustrated the difference between being accessible in theory and practice, highlighting the number of disability entrances to buildings which are located down the back of alleyways, in unlit spaces or which are separated in other ways from non-accessible entrances. 

Further, the group discussed how perceptions and realities reinforced each other. The perception that women are not safe at night means less women are actually accessing public spaces. With less women in the space, negatives perceptions of safety are reinforced as it was agreed by the panel that people's perception of safety are boosted in a space when they see people like them using or reflected in that space. 

Even well intentioned concerns like ‘stay safe out there’ or ‘avoid walking by yourself’ accept an inherent level of risk for women wanting to access public spaces after dark and put the onus on women to keep themselves safe. The potential perpetrator is rarely encouraged to ‘behave out there’ or ‘avoid harassing anyone walking by themselves’. 

Much of the discussion also highlighted the need for intersectional perspectives to be sought when spaces are being designed, how easy it can be to get it wrong - but also how easy it can be to get it right.

After the final story was shared, we all went out into the dark with new understandings, new perspectives and feeling less alone in our shared experiences. 

If you have an idea for the next She Acts panel or want to get involved, get in touch with us on Facebook at She Acts (Canberra). 

She Acts is the volunteer forum for members and friends of YWCA Canberra building the YWCA Canberra community through events, fundraising campaigns, and member and supporter engagement projects.