Maria SASSALOU, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Maria PAPADIMITRIOU, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
This paper examines the impact of the social phenomenon of gender-based violence in the public space and more specifically on the urban public space in the city of Thessaloniki. Through primary research on daily experiences and perceptions of women citizens of Thessaloniki, this paper attempts to probe mobility behaviors in the urban fabric, as well as feelings of safety or insecurity regarding the public open spaces of the city in relation to gender-based violence. The focus lies on the investigation whether these negative feelings impact women's choices to be present or not in the public sphere and to accent strategies or reflex actions that consciously or not adopt when moving in public. The questionnaire that was compiled is based, on one hand, on personal experiences that we wanted to investigate whether other women have experienced, and, on the other hand, on the findings of the international discussion and experience on this issue aiming to examine if it exists in the city of Thessaloniki and in which ways it occurs. All data were collected and divided on three sections which are a) personal information, b) daily transit in the city, c) perceptions about lack of safety in public urban spaces, while the sample of the survey was 250 women citizens of Thessaloniki. In addition, the analysis of the responses was implemented on the SPSS statistics program through diagrams and pies and the mapping procedure occurred on ArcGis. It is undeniable, that almost all the women who took part in the survey, agree, and confirm how the feeling of insecurity and fear of a sexual assault in public, affect and limit mobility and consequently their quality of life in the city. The results of our research highlight the limitation of freedom that most women experience in public life and can be the basis for a future detailed and systematic recording and documentation of their real needs and fears, which can lead to policies to prevent and address the complexity of this phenomenon.
Mots clés : gender and space|violence in public space|women live in the city|broader area of Thessaloniki |gender-based violence
A104768MS