Women's Safety Charter

Safer places for women, girls and everyone

The Women’s Safety Charter brings organisations together to create safer places for women, girls and everyone in the multi-city region.

Research shows that women, girls and gender diverse people are more likely to experience unsafe situations and feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in public places, with these spaces often not designed with them or their safety in mind. This affects equal freedom of movement and access to opportunities in our cities.

The Charter supports businesses, government agencies, local councils, peak groups and not-for-profit organisations to take collective action to make our cities safer, more welcoming and inclusive for all women and girls.

Our passionate network of participant organisations lead and advocate for women’s safety initiatives that influence the design of places, the development of policy and practices, and the planning and delivery of services.

By working together to build safer cities for women and girls, we can build safer cities for everyone.

Principles and outcomes

The Women’s Safety Charter is based on three foundation principles, each with three desired outcomes

1. A Culture of Gender Equality
   Equitable access for all, regardless of gender, underpins the planning and design of our cities, places and services.
   • Desired outcomes:
     • Design for equality: Place planning, design and decision-making involves women and gender diverse people to ensure the needs of our diverse communities are met.
     • Leadership: Executives and senior leaders support and champion the participation of women and gender diverse staff to create an environment free from gender-based exclusion.
     • Champion and participate: Organisations proactively identify their capabilities and networks to lead, co-ordinate, advocate and participate in women's safety initiatives.
2. Listen, share and reflect
   Communication, knowledge and evidence are key to influencing effective enduring change.
   • Desired outcomes:
     • Communication: Policies, principles and best practice women’s safety solutions are shared to build collective knowledge and drive change.
     • Data: Improved data collection and insight sharing enables a better understanding of the issues and informs solutions.
     • Reporting: Women are supported to report safety incidents and there is a clear, straightforward process to get help if needed.
3. Collective action and continuous improvement
   Active participation through collaboration, united action and reflective practice.
   • Desired outcomes:
     • Collaboration: Charter participants actively work together, leveraging their knowledge and expertise to build safer cities and places.
     • Process: Organisational policies and procedures are designed and updated in response to insights and data, so solutions are evidence-based.
     • Evaluation: The effectiveness of initiatives is tracked and regularly evaluated to support ongoing improvement.

Making an impact

The Charter aims to shift attitudes and behaviours around women’s safety, with particular focus on the following areas:

• Safer places
• Transport, active transport and mobility
• Communication and education
• Events and activations
• Data and knowledge sharing.

Become a participant

We invite your organisation to become a Charter participant.

Charter participants are part of a Community of Practice with over 90 organisations already committed to sharing knowledge and working together to improve the safety of women and girls in public places.

Participant organisations:

• Lead and influence initiatives that deliver on the Charter’s principles and outcomes
• Partner and support others by contributing to the Community of Practice and working with others to collaborate and enhance the Charter’s impact
• Share the Charter’s impact to influence a more inclusive approach to our public places

Foundation partners

The Charter is facilitated by the Commission with support from its foundation partners, Transport for NSW and the Committee for Sydney.

Find out more 

View the Women’s Safety Charter Guide (PDF 758KB) for more information.  

If you would like more information about the Women’s Safety Charter or to understand more about becoming a participant, please email the Greater Cities Commission at: engagement@gcc.nsw.gov.au.

To learn more about creating safer places for women, explore our collection of helpful resources.