Free to Be: Delhi

Cat-calling, stalking, groping and worse – it doesn’t matter where they live, girls face harassment and abuse on a daily basis all around the world, simply because of their gender.

The magnitude of this global issue is the basis of recent research by Plan International where over 21,000 girls across Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Sydney reported the areas in their city where they feel safe and unsafe, using our digital mapping tool developed in partnership with Monash University.

Now, we’re launching the findings in our Free to Be: Delhi. Free to Be Delhi Participants reported that places where they felt good had a strong community environment, or were a local, familiar neighbourhood, with known and trusted people. Presence of security, including police officers, made the less familiar places feel safe. The physical state of a location had an effect on the perceptions of safety and designations of ‘good’: infrastructure was noted in 14% of comments, cleanliness 10%, and good lighting 4%.

While the threat of theft or incidents of snatching was an issue in making the city feel unsafe or bad (noted in 8% of comments on bad pins), it paled in comparison to the threat of sexual harassment which dominated the comments on bad pins (65%).