One In Two Young Australian Women Feel Unsafe Walking Alone After Dark, A New Report Shows

One in two young Australian women feel unsafe walking alone after dark, according to a report released by Mission Australia today. Just one in five young men reported similar fears, in a pretty sobering reminder that we still have a long way to go before we see some actual meaningful equality in this country.

That’s not the only sobering stat to be found in Mission Australia’s Gender Gaps – Findings from the Youth Survey 2018 report. The report takes a look at the the way gender impacted the findings of the charity’s 2018 youth survey, which received close to 30,000 responses from 15-19 year olds last year. And it turns out that gender made a big difference, with women reporting more concern about almost every topic in the survey.

The survey found that 46.6 percent of young women reported feeling either unsafe or very unsafe walking alone after dark in their community, compared just 18.1 percent of men. In general, women were also more likely to report feeling either extremely or very concerned about their personal safety (21 percent of women, compared to 14.3 percent of men).

Meanwhile, 71.2 percent percent of men said they felt either comfortable or very comfortable using public spaces. 63 percent of women said the same. 28.3 percent of young women said that they saw concerns over safety and security as a potential barrier to moving out of home in the future, compared to 14.2 percent of young men.

“Personally, I am concerned of my safety and the safety of other young women around me when it comes to walking in the street alone and doing other every-day activities as there is the prolonged fear that we will be raped, abused, and murdered,” one 18-year-old woman from Victoria wrote.

This isn’t the only survey to find similar results. A 2016 survey by Plan International Australia and Our Watch found that 30 percent of young Australian women aged 15-19 avoided public places after dark due to safety concerns. Those concerns are not unfounded — in the past year in Melbourne alone, both 22-year-old Eurydice Dixon and 21-year-old Aiia Maasarwe were killed while walking home at night.

The fact that this data isn’t really new is perhaps the most concerning part of the report. Young women have been voicing their fears and concerns for years, and headlines about violence against women are distressingly common. As Mission Australia CEO James Toomey said in response to the Gender Gaps report’s findings, “we need to put a spotlight on what young women are telling us”.

“This is not ok, young females should not have to tolerate feeling unsafe as they go about their day to day lives,” he said. “Young women and men should be able to participate in activities and connect with their friends in their communities with equal confidence”.

You can find the full report at Mission Australia’s website.