40 per cent of women are scared to go out at night. Local women were given the chance to have their say on making the city safe at a recent conference. WOMAN reports

It was rather apt that on International Women's Day which celebrates the freedom and successes of women, many in Southampton came together to discuss just how vulnerable they feel against assault and attack.

Feedback from the International Women's Day conference will be used to make recommendations on ways to improve the safety of women in Southampton.

The event which took place last Thursday, was organised by the council as part of a wider safety audit, covering ways to reduce risks to all city residents. Workshops were held when women could voice concerns and make suggestions for the audit, the results of which will be

published in later in the year.

Jackie Compton, of the council's city safety team, said: "The last audit was carried out in 1998 because of the new Crime and Disorder Act, and they will be carried out every two or three years.

"It doesn't matter whether you're male or female - safety is a priority for our team in the city. But we realise men and women have different perceptions and different safety concerns, so we are trying to target individual groups to see what concerns they have and how we can address them."

She added: "The British Crime Survey says 40 per cent of women are afraid to go out at night. The council can do things to help address that, like improving street lighting and removing shrubs, but we also want to work with domestic violence and sexual abuse agencies, so that we can improve the whole picture of safety for women in Southampton."

About 80 people attended the conference to hear talks by representatives from the Home Office, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, the Southampton Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Service, Southampton Women's Aid, and the council's city safety team.

Councillor Cathy McEwing kicked off the conference by setting out her dream for the future. She said: "My dream is to share with every woman the freedoms I enjoy - not being afraid to go out when it's dark, to travel alone or to be in isolated places.

"As a woman politician I sometimes put my safety in jeopardy, but I want to go out when I want to and society's perception of the community being unsafe is something I disregard. This conference is about improving safety by taking some preventative steps."

Kris Bush, consultant to the Home Office, talked about a £7m government programme targeting domestic and sexual violence against women. The programme has focused so far on putting data collection systems in place and encouraging different agencies to work together to find out the true extent of the problem.

The Southampton Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Service has also received funding through the programme, which has enabled it to set up the STAR - Southampton Together Against Rape - project aimed at 12-18-year-olds.

The pilot project is currently in its second phase, involving a series of one-off workshops at schools, youth groups and housing projects, to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault.