Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

On February 15^th Metròpolis presented the publication untitled "Security and Public Spaces: mapping metropolitan gender policies", the result of an investigation conducted by members of the group.

Currently, women around the world are still afraid in public spaces because of violent crimes like assaults, sexual assaults, rape and feminicides. In response to this, some metropolises are taking actions to reverse this situation. Therefore, all 49 members of the Metropolis association are implementing policies to address violence against women and children that happens in public spaces like streets, parks, markets and public transport.

The AMB, for example, is currently working with local members in the San Salvador metropolitan area and the metropolitan area of Maputo, Mozambique, to contribute to the eradication of violent crimes against women and children in public spaces.

The publication also indicates that there are still significant challenges to incorporate and develop metropolises like the design and the transformation of cities and metropolises to guarantee women's rights, especially the right to a violence-free life, the promotion and incorporation of women's voice in the design and the amplification of the perspective of metropolitan security.

Results of the Mapping

For six months the organization Women in Cities International conducted a research study with all of the members of Metropolis, compiling information, undertaking questionnaires and coordinating exchange activities.

83 policies, strategies and tools have been identified, that focus on the security of women and girls in order make streets, squares, parks and neighborhoods safer and more accessible.

The identified initiatives were classified into 3 categories:

• Responsive: 49% of the members implement policies that respond to sexual violence after it has occurred.
• Preventative: 61% of the members implement policies with the objective of preventing sexual violence before it occurs.
• Transformative: only 26% of the members implement policies with the objective of transforming and eradicating the systems rooted in discrimination that perpetuate violence against women and children in society.

• An important number of initiatives are concentrated in Asia and the Pacific (38).
• The majority of methods and instruments used by metropolises to raise safety for women in public spaces are measures applied in public transport and are related to the use of mobile phone technology, such as alerts and SMS for smartphones that generate data about threats and safe spaces.
• 49 metropolises with some kind of policy towards boosting safety in public spaces for women and girls were identified, which represents only 36% of the members of the association.