creating a better learning environment

Safety Audits

Any woman, from those who have experienced extreme overt violence to those who have "just" experienced the institutionalized, systemic violence that is part of most societies, has concerns for her safety. As we know, women who have experienced sexual violence find that safety concerns often take precedence over all else, including learning. Safety issues need to be resolved before a woman can take advantage of learning opportunities. Unresolved safety issues can be a barrier to learning.

One way women are working together to take control of their environment, be it neighbourhood, school, university, community centre or workplace, is through a safety audit. This useful tool can be used by women or by groups of women and men; it takes time, but it costs little money. The information here is adapted from the Women's Safety Audit Guide, put out by METRAC, Toronto's Metro Action Committee on Public Violence Against Women and Children. For more information, or to order their booklet, see the reference section of this kit.

What is a Safety Audit?
A safety audit is a detailed evaluation of your physical environment. The goal of a safety audit is to reduce the opportunity for sexual assaults and harassment and to make places safe for everyone. A place which discourages sexual assault will also lower the chance of other crime. Look at a place that bothers you and note any problems: What's the lighting like? Would anyone hear you if you called for help? What improvements would you like to see?

The process of the audit can be used to respond to the most obvious threats to safety such as burned out light bulbs. It can also be used to evaluate policies and practices that contribute to a lack of safety.

A safety audit underlines the fact that women experience and evaluate their space in a different way from men and that, in general, people in positions of power or privilege experience fear differently. The environment is experienced differently according to a person's ethnicity, race, class, age, ability and sexuality. In the process of an audit, it is essential that no woman's fear be trivialized or ignored.

METRAC's helpful booklet has a list of questions you might want to use in your safety audit. It also details the practical aspects of organizing an audit. METRAC suggests you do a preliminary survey to discover what is most pressing in the eyes of other women who work, live or study where you do. Preliminary questions could include:

• How safe do you feel in your building/on the street/waiting for the bus?
• Have you limited what you do because you don't feel safe?
• Have you ever felt unsafe, or at risk of sexual assault in this area?