Safety Perceptions, Female Mobility, and Technological Solutions: An Evaluation of the Women Safety App in Pakistan

Abstract

An important hurdle to achieving gender equality is the restriction on female mobility. Female access to healthcare, education, political participation, recreation, and employment, continues to demonstrate uneven progress, despite significant progress in recent decades. One important factor in this is female mobility, that is often restricted by norms, culture, crime, and (importantly) perceptions of safety. One solution recently implemented in Pakistan, is the Women Safety App, specifically designed by a government agency to address female safety concerns and in turn, facilitate female mobility. In this project, we evaluate the impact of access to the App, on female mobility, as well as risk perceptions and beliefs.