Sydney will hopefully become a more safer place for women if the Free To Be initiative has anything to do with it.
It is a new crowd-sourced platform designed by Plan International, CrowdSpot, and Monash University’s XYX Lab, which implores women to highlight areas of the city where they feel unsafe, be it due to poor lighting, prior incidences, infrastructural issues, or one of the countless other reasons that force women to feel unsafe and scared.
It was successfully implemented in Melbourne, with over ten thousand people taking part in adding to the map.
Conversely, you can also highlight safe spaces.
“The map unearths real stories of women and makes them visible to people in positions of power to advocate for change”, explains the website.
“In Melbourne, more than 10,000 people visited the website, with thousands dropping a pin – happy or sad – on places they loved, avoided, felt safe or unsafe in. Once the map closed, we presented data to key decision-makers including the City of Melbourne, Victoria Police, Metro and Public Transport Victoria.
“Plan International’s Youth Activists have been working closely with these organisations to make change and we’ve had some amazing responses.”
Add to the map here, and check out the spaces in Sydney deemed safe and unsafe.
