Cross-cutting themes

A number of cross-cutting themes emerged from the research including:

• women and girls felt ‘responsible’ for keeping themselves safe (rather than the threat of danger being removed by others) and also keeping other females safe (by not leaving them to travel alone). Nevertheless, there was consensus that women and girls should never be blamed for finding themselves in an unsafe situation and that cultural change was needed to bring about better understanding of this stance;
• women and girls often spoke of feeling guided or restricted by others’ thresholds of what was perceived as ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’, or as ‘acceptable’ or ’unacceptable’ behaviour and, therefore, not always using their own judgement about when it would or would not be appropriate to ask for help;
• familiarity with both people and places was something that made women and girls feel safer in various contexts and the notion of the ‘unknown’ caused underlying fear (both unknown strangers and unknown situations). Familiarity gives a greater sense of being in control - where the likely risks can be predicted, planned for and managed, feelings of vulnerability are reduced;
• behaviour modifications were made by all who took part and were discussed as being an accepted part of daily social life, not only in relation to travel, but more generally. Women often described detailed strategies for keeping themselves safe and complex pre-planning of journeys (including what they would wear and where they would sit or stand to make themselves less conspicuous);
• women and girls spoke of cognitive dissonance and needing to constantly make difficult choices as part of their travel planning, often feeling forced to choose between two unappealing options, rather than feeling that a safe alternative was in place. Women experienced discomfort, tension and anxiety as a result; and
• women and girls acted to try and make themselves ‘feel’ safer but recognised that often there was little they could do to actually ‘be’ safer as the risks could never be fully controlled.