Women's Safety Audits: What Works and Where?

Preliminary results from a 2007 global survey of 163 local government-community partnerships on women's safety found that the assessment and action tool most often used is the women's safety audit. The women's safety audit tool is used to assess sense of safety by identifying the factors that make women feel safe and unsafe in the public domain. Based on these results, recommendations are made for increasing women's sense of safety and use of public space, by firstly, improving various elements of the built environment and secondly, changing community behaviours and local government policies. The women's safety audit tool also seeks to increases civic participation in local governance. Safety concerns are identified from the perspective of groups that are most vulnerable to experiencing violence, such as women, seniors (including elderly women), children and people with disabilities. Safety audits can be used to evaluate many different environments, including neighbourhoods, parking garages, public transit, and parks.

Women's Safety Audits: What Works and Where? is an international comparative assessment that provides relevant information for the implementation of future safety audits, and aims to fill a current void. Results are also intended to influence the development of a set of guidelines for local authorities to refer to when considering the use of the women's safety audit tool. This report examines best practices, local adaptations, positive and negative outcomes and suggestions for future use of the women's safety audit tool based on a review of the literature as well as surveys and interviews with organizations around the world that have used the tool.