Urban initiatives for women around the world
Alexandra Savina
For a long time the cities were built for men: they got money, they needed to get to work, and women more often stayed at home. But times have changed and require new measures - increasingly, the authorities and enterprising city dwellers are listening to the needs of women. Somewhere in the priority safety of women, but somewhere they just need the opportunity to work. Where the authorities are interested in the opinions of women themselves, the projects are more successful, and vice versa. We looked at several city initiatives that exist in different countries and various approaches to solving the problems that women face in their daily lives.
Austria
Perhaps there is no city in the world whose authorities would also care about its convenience for citizens of both sexes, as they do in Vienna. Since 1999, the Gender mainstreaming program (Gender Equalization) has been operating here, taking into account the peculiarities of how the city is used by both men and women. It comes to not the most obvious solutions. For example, much attention is paid to parking security: to prevent possible violence against women, they should be brightly lit, their entrances and exits should be clearly visible, and guards should closely watch the territory. Other examples include gender-sensitive cemeteries, public toilets, playgrounds, and schoolyards. Even budgeting in Vienna dictates gender - the calculations take into account how much benefit this or that item of expenses will bring separately to men and women.
Papua New Guinea
In Papua New Guinea, the problem of violence against women is particularly acute. Not surprisingly, in 2011 UN Women launched the Port Moresby Safe City program, which aims to protect women in the capital. The same program, "UN Women" introduces another 16 cities in the world. It turned out that special attention should be paid to the markets: thefts and threats to merchants, among which women are more than 80%; unsanitary conditions, as well as various forms of violence here, alas, have become common elements. Thanks to the program, the infrastructure of one of the main markets of Port Moresby and Gereha has qualitatively changed: comfortable toilets and showers, renewed counters, shady areas, as well as running water with drinking water appeared. An association of market traders has been created, and in order to prevent looting, a cashless payment system is being introduced. In the future, there are plans to open two libraries in the Gereha and Gordon markets, where mothers who are forced to take children with them to the market will be able to leave them and quietly engage in trade or shopping.
India
It is difficult to say exactly where the idea of “female” taxis originated: they now exist, in particular, in England, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Australia and Russia, and continue to appear. For example, in May, in the second city of the Indian state of Kerala, with the support of the authorities, a round-the-clock taxi service "She Taxi" was launched. "Female" taxis have a special design, and security is provided by a computer system: it allows you to track the behavior of both the passenger and the driver. In addition, both the driver and the passenger have alarm buttons, and the location of the taxi is constantly monitored using GPS. True, opponents of the initiative argue that transport for women does not solve the problem, but only exacerbates it - not segregation is necessary, but the ability to use transport without the threat of violence.
South Korea
In 2007, a program was launched in Seoul, with the help of which it was planned to make the city comfortable for women. It includes 90 different projects related to various aspects that affect the lives of women: work, culture, childcare, safety, urban infrastructure. The most talked about project is the sensational "female" parking marked up with pink paint and female figures like symbols of a public toilet. No matter how it seems at first glance, parking does not imply that women drive worse - planning parking spaces is repelled by security issues: they are better lit, closer to the exits and monitored by surveillance cameras. Female parking - the idea is not new, they are, for example, in Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, China, Indonesia and Austria. Only in Germany they went a different way and created parking spaces for men - where it is more difficult to park.
Other projects in Seoul include, for example, a service that sends SMS messages to a woman’s family with taxis that she used at night, as well as buses that are conveniently used by elderly and pregnant women — they do not make abrupt stops with these passengers on board, and the railings in they are located at a more convenient height.
Saudi Arabia
Traditionally, Muslim women are considered to have fewer capabilities, so a note published two years ago by The Guardian that an industrial city intended only for women would be built in Saudi Arabia created a sensation. However, very soon a refutation appeared in the media - it turned out that an industrial city would indeed be built in Saudi Arabia, but it would be intended for all sexes. However, for women, separate sections and production workshops are reserved.
The government of Saudi Arabia is aware of the problem and is committed to helping women who want to work. According to media reports, by 2016 the country's authorities plan to complete the program, which will replace the male sellers in the stores selling women's goods (traditional clothes, underwear, accessories, cosmetics and perfumery, etc.) with women.
USA
The idea of restaurants for women is gaining popularity in the USA. At the same time, this is not about pink pastry shops, but, for example, traditionally considered male steakhouse. True, often an interesting idea gets an ambiguous implementation: for example, in the recently closed Steakhouse "SHe" Eva Longoria offered reduced "feminine" portions of meat to women, in the dessert menu there were mirrors so that guests could correct lipstick, and the main entertainment of the establishment was the podium with walking him girls Probably the underdeveloped concept of the women's restaurant played a role in its failures. Restaurateurs have not yet been able to figure out what women want, so they are offered either stereotypical pink color and cupcakes, or ambiguous options. Obviously, there is still work to do.
Photo: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 via Flickr