The municipality announced last September that it would take new measures to improve the safety of women.
There was great outrage nationally due to a series of serious incidents of violence against women, including the murder of 17-year-old Lisa.
Mayor Femke Halsema and aldermen Alexander Scholtes (Health Care) and Melanie van der Horst (Public Space) have now announced a package of measures. The focus is on three pillars: assistance to victims, adjustments in public spaces and a shift in norms.
The walk-in location of the Sexual Violence Center (CSG) will be open seven days a week from mid-January. More care providers will also be joining the Stay Group, and the GGD will make forensic medical expertise more accessible in the event of signs of violence, so that more women can be examined earlier. There will be more protection for victims of domestic violence and stalking, including alarm buttons.
Vulnerable locations
Public spaces must also become safer. Earlier this year, the municipality mapped more than 160 vulnerable places, such as cycle routes, tunnels and public transport locations. In these places, bushes are pruned, extra lamps are installed and the environment is renovated. In Weesp, light art has already been installed in a tunnel for a safer feeling, and a pilot with better lighting will soon start at underpasses in Zuidoost.
The municipality wants to incorporate the ‘female perspective’ more emphatically in new designs of streets and squares, by using the experiences of women and girls in the design.
Martial arts
The package of measures also focuses on martial arts training for women. It does not solve violence against women, the letter acknowledges, but it may contribute to a sense of freedom. Martial arts trainers will play a role in this. They must work to guide women in unsafe relationships to help more quickly.
There is also a lot of attention to the safety of women in nightlife. The hand gesture and code word ‘Angela’, with which people can ask for help, should be better known. Four additional boas are being trained to enforce sexual street intimidation and a buddy system will be introduced for people who want to cycle home together. Starting at the Johan Cruijff Arena.
Manosphere
Men are also given an explicit role in the municipality’s new approach. For example, the ‘Man, say something’ campaign is running, which calls on men to speak out against sexual misconduct.
Young people receive workshops on the influence of harmful online content, such as from the so-called ‘manosphere’. From next year, the municipality will also support the Offlimits campaign, which focuses on young porn viewers who are increasingly looking for more extreme and harmful material.
In addition, there will be new accessible group interventions for men and boys, to make them aware and prevent recurrence of inappropriate behavior.
Violence against women also needs a broader national approach, the letter emphasizes. But with these measures, the triangle and the council are taking the first steps to more actively combat violence against women. “It should be self-evident that women and girls can move through Amsterdam without fear. On the street, home, at school or work and in the nightlife.”