Dozens of women, young and old, gathered today in Amsterdam Nieuw-West for the women’s march. The initiative is a collaboration between the municipality and various women’s organizations from the district. Organizers want to show that the position of women must improve and that men also have a role to play in this.
In recent years, the Nieuw-West district has received a growing number of reports that women feel unsafe on the street, but also online. Also out research figures from 2022 across the city, it appears that the number of cases of street intimidation is growing. The fact that the march was organized today is no coincidence, it was deliberately chosen as a day in Safety Week.
A young participant of the march puts his finger on the sore spot. “I don’t dare to cycle everywhere because there are young people hanging around everywhere and it is just very exciting to go somewhere,” says Jewel van der Meer, who lives in the area.
power
Fatimzahra Baba, founder of women’s organization Saaam, emphasizes that today it is mainly about the strength of women and discussions were held in collaboration with the municipality in the run-up to the march. This revealed spicy stories of girls and women who did not feel safe.
“Because we’ve been able to have a lot of conversations and create safe settings, that’s why women and young girls have been able to share their stories,” Baba said. “They have seen that they need each other to really have one voice. That also shows that there is a lot of potential and will, which is why today is this day.”
The march started at Plein 40-45, where there was first an opportunity to make banners. T-shirts were also painted. Lyrics such as “Girls just wanna feel free” and “Stop Catcalling” were featured.
Sloterplas
The march then moved through the streets of Nieuw-West and along the Sloterplas, a place that many participants experience as unsafe. Participant Malika Aolad si Mhammad talks about her five daughters, all born and raised in Nieuw-West. “My eldest two daughters are already grown and are avid joggers,” she explains. “And they like to walk around Sloterplas every week. I don’t like it when they run in the dark, but they do that anyway.”
The district has been focusing on women for a long time. There has been one since 2018 women’s agenda which attempts to improve the position of women. In November, district chairman Emre Ünver will organize a survey during which unsafe places in public spaces will be visited. In addition, dialogues between boys, girls and parents are organized in the theater and at schools. The district also organizes resilience training.