Safety measures are coming in Amsterdam for women, but are they enough?
Mayor Femke Halsema announced on Tuesday that she is taking measures to combat violence against women in Amsterdam. D66 member Elise Moeskops has been researching the topic in Amsterdam for some time and comes forward with five recommendations to better protect women.
Although Amsterdam ranks tenth among the safest cities in Europe when it comes to sexual and violent crimes, Elise Moeskops, a city council member for D66 in Amsterdam, is not satisfied with that. “The city is designed from the perspective of the white, fit, healthy man – with scary, dark corners. Women still too often feel unsafe.” That is why the council member wants to shape the city from the perspective of young women.
According to Moeskops, it works like this: the more women go out – the more supervision there is over those who intend harm – the safer other women feel, the more women go out. It’s a positive spiral. That is why the D66 member considers it so important to involve women in the design of public spaces. But there is another reason: “The female-unfriendly design of the city implicitly invites violence against women, which, as a society, we are effectively condoning.”
By giving young women a seat at the table, Moeskops wants to send the signal that their safety is taken seriously. This means designing the city in a way that does not allow even minor acts of violence before they escalate. Something relatively harmless, like catcalling – the lowest rung on the pyramid of violence – can, according to the council member, quickly grow into stalking someone. “If women don’t dare to go outside because they feel unsafe, it also means less social oversight.”
To explain this to others, Moeskops often uses the metaphor of a hundred-euro bill on the street. “You don’t have to be a professional thief to pick up that bill. But if you get away with it, for some people the step to take a bill from a colleague’s open wallet becomes a little smaller.” The same applies to the pyramid of violence: tolerating minor violence invites greater violence. “In public spaces, we should actually remove all the hundred-euro bills.” And so, Moeskops comes forward with the following five recommendations to make Amsterdam safer.
Better lighting, not more lighting
“Men and women see fundamentally differently. We sometimes joke about it, but men are more often colorblind – women are more often night-blind. Back in the day, men had to shoot mammoths at dusk. For women, it was important to be able to tell the difference between a red and an orange berry, otherwise the whole tribe would die.”
“In principle, women want to see their surroundings clearly, but not be seen. It is disadvantageous for women that a city’s lighting is tested on the standard person, who is usually male. Women benefit from lighting that is slightly yellower in color, rather than the white light you see, for example, at train stations. And because women generally see worse in the dark than men, the bright light from a streetlamp is more blinding for them. The position of the lighting also matters: light at eye level is better, because high light creates a kind of spotlight, with dark spots around it.”
Benches with back support
“Women feel more comfortable when they have back support. It creates an unsafe feeling to be potentially watched from behind without realizing it. Therefore, move a bench from the middle of a lawn to the side, for example against a wall.”
Pedestrian and bicycle paths
“Historically, cars were given priority in the city first, and pedestrian and bicycle paths were added afterward. As a result, cars still dominate public space, to the detriment of women. Unfortunately, it is still the case that women more often than men take children to school, go grocery shopping, walk with strollers, and go to the gym. Women move differently through the city than men: they generally make more, shorter trips per day. Cycling and walking are better suited for this travel pattern than driving.”
“Imagine Amsterdam didn’t exist. How would a woman design the city? She would probably start with a nice, wide, well-lit sidewalk, where you can walk comfortably and have a good view of your surroundings. Then she would lay down a beautiful bike path next to it. That makes it attractive for women to go out onto the street. What the municipality can do is redesign the city and build new neighborhoods from her perspective. No one suffers if we create more space for us to move broadly.”
Hostile architecture
“We need to get rid of hostile architecture. Think of benches with spikes to drive away teenagers, or boulders under bridges so that homeless people can’t sleep there. It’s intended to promote safety – which may work in the short term – but it actually signals to women that the area is unsafe. The result is that women avoid places with hostile architecture, making them even less safe.”
Talk about your feeling of insecurity
“We make the city safer by women telling men how unsafe we sometimes feel. Recently, for example, I was cycling home alone in the dark at night. I had taken a longer route and had my keys ready at the end to defend myself because I was scared. When I got home, my boyfriend asked how my evening had been. I automatically said it was nice; I didn’t tell him that for half of the ride – with sweaty hands – I had felt uneasy.”
“We women must not accept the restriction of our freedom. That would mean fewer hours in our day. Because we go home earlier, riding along with the last person leaving the party who is going in the same direction. A man never has to think about that. Why do we let that last hour of enjoyment be taken away from us? So talk about it: if people don’t know change is needed, nothing will happen.”
