'Women’s Safety Zone' Project Fully Launched... Making Jongno a Happy Place for Women

‘Women’s Safety Zone’ refers to spaces where women can feel safe through related project promotion and village-level resident network formation... A governance system involving both public and private sectors will be established to incorporate residents' opinions throughout the project... Related events such as ‘Women’s Safety Capacity Building Workshop,’ ‘Visiting Self-Defense Training,’ and ‘Women’s Safety Forum’ will be held... A basic plan for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) will be developed by October this year covering the entire region.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) plans to promote the resident-participatory '2020 Women’s Safety Zone Creation Project,' a public-private collaboration, from May to December, aiming to create a ‘Women-Friendly City Jongno.’

The ‘Women’s Safety Zone’ is a collective term for related women’s safety projects, including women’s safety villages and women’s safe return home routes, where a village-level resident network is formed to create spaces where women can feel safe.

The district plans to effectively implement the project by incorporating residents’ opinions throughout the process based on a governance structure involving both public and private sectors.

First, the district will establish the ‘Empathy Resident Safety Network’ and promote resident safety capacity-building events such as ▲ Women’s safety capacity enhancement workshops ▲ Visiting self-defense classes (including theoretical education on sexual violence prevention) ▲ Women’s Safety Zone monitoring (joint monitoring by public, private, and police sectors followed by sharing of best practices and improvement points).

Additionally, in September, a Women’s Safety Forum will be held to share problems centered on cases of gender-based violence and provide an opportunity for awareness change. In November, to mark the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, a commemorative event week will be held at Marronnier Park and around Hyehwa Station.

The district plans to conduct a basic plan and guideline establishment project for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) covering the entire Jongno-gu area by October this year.

A crime map will be created by region to analyze crime characteristics, and a target group interview survey will be conducted with local residents to produce a fear-of-crime map. Resident demand surveys, solution research, and guideline establishment will also be carried out.

Furthermore, to widely promote the women’s safety project, integrated women’s safety pamphlets will be placed in community service centers, multi-use facilities, and schools, and distributed at various women-related events. The project will also be widely publicized through the district office website, Facebook, blog, and other SNS channels.

At the same time, Jongno-gu has paid attention to the need for gender considerations in rapidly changing urban spaces such as urban environments and construction, as raised in the OECD European Declaration for Urban Women and the 2nd UN-Habitat meeting. The district has been steadily working to establish a foundation for promoting gender equality policies.

For institutional foundation, the Ordinance on the Creation of Women-Friendly City in Jongno-gu, Seoul, was enacted at the end of 2018, and the dedicated department, the Women and Family Division’s Women-Friendly City Team, was newly established on January 1, 2019.

To realize the policy values of equity, care, participation, and communication in the women-friendly city, various projects are underway to build a foundation for gender equality policy promotion, expand women’s economic and social participation, enhance community safety, create a family-friendly environment, and strengthen women’s capacity for community activities.

Women's Friendly City Resident Participation Group Workshop

Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “Isn’t a city where women can live well a city where everyone can live well? A women-friendly city is one where not only men but also children, adults, and the elderly all feel safe and comfortable. We will continuously promote related projects by integrating the concept of women-friendliness throughout the district administration. We will correct the widespread inequality in society and complete ‘People-Centered Premium City Jongno,’ where all members of society are happy. Along with promoting the women-friendly city, we will also do our best in the child-friendly city project that fully guarantees children’s rights.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.