Read on Twitter
Better lighting has been shown to attract teenage girls to parks (and, interestingly, to deter teenage boys 
), and this describes similar environmental changes to make public space more hospitable to women https://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/381-plan-spaces-to-encourage-equal-social-relations-between-men-and-women.html
), and this describes similar environmental changes to make public space more hospitable to women https://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/381-plan-spaces-to-encourage-equal-social-relations-between-men-and-women.html
Similarly, there are efforts to improve teenage girlsâ experience of school sport: more time to get changed & giving girls better choice of sports (girls report how boys are encouraged to âgo outsideâ, while they are confined to âdancing studiosâ). https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/28/by-secondary-its-too-late-readers-on-promoting-girls-school-sports
BUT one of the MOST effective interventions is to give girls access to spaces without men. Itâs sad that itâs necessary, but allowing girls to participate in single-sex sports is repeatedly shown to increase participation and enjoyment.
Women-only sessions in public spaces like swimming pools allows girls to participate without harassment. Martha Brady shows how facilitating girlsâ sports in single-sex spaces can be a way of âbringing girls into the public sphereâ. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40005500?casa_token=9QKV2aw0vgwAAAAA%3AsUOpfxPl8rw7IkitGDMXrfu48bK-0Kbk_kDXq8eQfnUUo1dqc_-HIIXxGRzoLL7-r_eEeDga7HA2U73kqrUQq0xwbW2zduT3nD4Ja2jG_8ZEcRNz56lg&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
I used to be a bit jokey about the question, âwomen, what would you do if there was a curfew for men?â But reading this material has made me realise how women are ourselves operating under a curfew. Iâm sure many of us feel similarly to teenage girls retreating to our bedrooms.
This material has made me realise how important it is to grasp the extent to which womenâs access to PUBLIC space is curtailed â the impact this has on our lives & health & happiness â & to devise ways for girls & women to take up occupation of space they have a right to be in. /
