Women's experiences tell us much about the problems we need to address. Some key factors emerge. Feelings of safety in a public place change over the course of a day. Fears for safety are worse at night. Public places where women feel unsafe are usually places where women feel vulnerable to violence.
Many women particularly fear sexual assault.
Public places where women feel unsafe often have certain characteristics in common. Unsafe public places are different from one area to the next. For example, the railway station area was a main problem area in Liverpool, whereas in Parramatta a main problem area is the Church Street Mall. A local understanding of the problems and a locally developed and driven response is likely to be the most effective. Tackling these problems requires a framework which starts by asking women to identify the public places where they feel unsafe.