Participants play an important role in bringing the Charter to life. We rely on the creative thinking, ideas and solutions of Charter participants to help continue to deepen our understanding of women’s safety and enact change. There is no initiative or action too small, and every project helps improve the way we approach and plan our cities to be more inclusive, safer and enjoyable for everyone.
Our passionate network of participants has developed some great initiatives to make our cities safer. Some of our participants share examples of these initiatives and reflect on why they have signed up to the Charter and the impact this has had on their organisation.
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
What does women’s safety mean to your organisation?
At UTS, we take a proactive approach to fostering equality and valuing diversity, in all its forms. From the policies that guide our behaviour, to the prevention and response mechanisms that are in place on campus, we make sure that at UTS, safety is everybody’s business. In addition, UTS is proud to be an active member of the national Respect.Now.Always. campaign that aims to eliminate sexual harm on Australian campuses.
Why did your organisation join the Women’s Safety Charter?
UTS prides itself on being an inclusive university, that exists for the public good. With an enrolment of over 44,000 students, we have a responsibility to create safer spaces for our community, regardless of gender. Joining the Women’s Safety Charter was a simple decision: to align with another organisation with similar values.
What women’s safety initiatives has your organisation delivered since joining the Charter?
Some of the things UTS is doing to make our campus a safe and respectful place to work, study and live include: trauma-informed counsellors, bar staff and resident networkers trained in sexual violence awareness and intervention, online mandatory consent training for all students and staff, and 24/7 female security with first responder training. And just this year, we implemented a new Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy formalising our zero-tolerance approach.
Which of the Charter foundation principles/outcomes do these initiatives align to?
A Culture of Gender Equality; Listen, share and reflect and Collective action and continuous improvement.
What have you enjoyed and/or what are the benefits of being a Charter participant?
It is inspiring to be part of a Community of Practice dedicated to improving the safety of women and girls in public spaces. It offers UTS the chance to learn from other best-practice practitioners in this space, and conversely share our knowledge and learnings so that we can remain current within our own community.
UTS team, left to right: Elizabeth Kuo-Gollan, Catharine Pruscino, Jemima Tilly, Ruby Hartley
AECOM
What does women’s safety mean to your organisation?
We all deserve to be safe and to feel safe in everything we do. Making this possible translates to the city-shaping projects AECOM designs and delivers. AECOM is committed to positive Environmental, Social and Governance outcomes, both within the organisation, and across the projects we work on. Women’s safety, in particular, is a key enabler for equal participation and access to opportunities.
Why did your organisation join the Women’s Safety Charter?
AECOM is a global infrastructure consulting firm. Our projects span the transportation, buildings, water and energy sectors, across both public and private clients. As engineers, architects, planners, and advisors, we are empowered to be the changemakers on our projects every day. Those positive changes align with the Charter’s aims for making an impact, particularly around ‘Safer places’, ‘Transport, active transport and mobility’ and ‘Data and knowledge sharing’. By supporting the Charter’s goals we want to contribute towards improving the safety of women and girls.
What women’s safety initiatives has your organisation delivered since joining the Charter?
We have reinvigorated our internal Women’s Mentoring Circles program aimed at advancing diversity, providing support and building networks within the organisation. Our range of events have included talks on safety for women in our city and understanding how women move about our city. They were supported by our internal Women’s Safety Charter group which identifies further actions to bring awareness to safety. In parallel we have seen a noticeable increase of women in leadership positions which has supported a culture of gender equality.
We have also created and launched our Safe Places Survey – Open to all! Developed using PlanEngagelaunch, it maps where and why people feel safe or unsafe. This helps us understand diverse perceptions on safety, raise awareness and educate our design teams to provide better, safer environments. Try it out here: Interactive map - Safe Places (planengage.com)launch
Which of the Charter foundation principles/outcomes do these initiatives align to?
Our work spans the three foundation principles, but is particularly is aligned to:
1. A Culture of Gender Equality: Design for equality, which will be informed by data
2. Listen, share and reflect: Watch this space! We intend to share more at the Women’s Safety Charter Community of Practice at the end of this year.
What have you enjoyed and/or what are the benefits of being a Charter participant?
All of the above! It’s been a great ride – working with a great team to develop ways to achieve the social outcomes we all believe in.
Transport for NSW
What does women’s safety mean to your organisation?
Safety plays an important role in everything that we do at Transport for NSW and we are passionate about continuing to explore ways to embed safe practices into our day to day activities, programs and services.
Transport for NSW takes women’s safety seriously and we are focused on helping women feel and be safe when travelling on public transport across NSW.
As part of the Future Transport Strategy, Transport for NSW has committed to equitable, accessible and secure transport for all – as part of this commitment, we want to ensure that everyone can use transport and be safe and feel safe, regardless of age, ability, socio-economic or personal circumstances. As a first principle, we aim to plan, deliver, and operate with inclusivity built into our transport system.
Why did your organisation join the Women’s Safety Charter?
Transport for NSW co designed the Women’s Safety Charter with the Greater Cities Commission. We have been there from the start and are deeply committed to the Charter partnership and designing safer cities for all.
What women’s safety initiatives has your organisation delivered since joining the Charter?
Transport for NSW’s Safer Cities Programlaunch is investing $30 million over two years to help improve perceptions of safety in our cities and towns, particularly for women, girls, and gender diverse people through testing and trialling interventions on the ground and raising awareness through a public education campaign.
Which of the Charter foundation principles/outcomes do these initiatives align to?
The Safer Cities Program aligns with all three of the Charter foundation principles and outcomes by: advocating for equitable access to safe public spaces; listening, sharing and reflecting with women, girls and gender diverse people across all aspects of the program through co-design; and actively collaborating across different levels of government, including with partner councils to achieve the program’s aims.
Left to right: Sally Webb, Deputy Secretary, Safety Environment and Regulation; Stephanie Salter and Stephanie Strilakos, who led the codesign of the Women’s Safety Charter with Greater Cities Commission; the team delivering the Safer Cities program in Cities Revitalisation and Place.