Returning to walk safely: Research for solutions of street harassment in Costa Rica

Every day, women and girls of all countries, in urban or rural settings, experience feelings of anxiety, anguish and fear as they walk home, to their workplaces or to leisurely spaces. It is definitely a gender-based form of violence, which hinders access and safe transit through public spaces, harming the integrity of women in their physical, psychological and sexual dimensions.

Costa Rica has a strong commitment with the defense of human rights. However, in 2015, the second State of Women’s Human Rights in Costa Rica determined that 70% of interviewed women reported having endured forms of violence, such as catcalling and unwanted comments about their appearance.

Facing this problem we decided to focus on an investigation of academic character in which we apply an online poll methodology that was shared with women working in the area, we gathered relevant data that helped us understand the situation in the area, the areas with higher incidence of harassment and the knowledge these women had about processes for filing complaints.

Using the brainstorming technique, we identified six categories of issues, recognizing specific ways in which street harassment affects the user in their lifestyle as fear, insecurity when walking, movement constraints, unnecessary additional pressure, indignation, Objectification.

With the aim of finding a solution to the problems discussed above, we set out to define the scope of our project and ideate a solution, in the form of a mobile app that will allow women to go about their day in the safest and most independent way. In it, they will have specific features to interact with trusted persons or institutions to request help in moments of distress.

For the initial launch of a minimum viable product (MVP). In the first versions we drafted general requirements. Later, we compared them in the comparative assessments analysis, weighing them against our research objectives and the brainstorming results. Six non-negotiable features were chosen as: safe route mapping, user profile, connect with trusted contacts, emergency button, share my emergency location with trusted contactsa and real-time location.

Currently we are on the usability testing phase to validate our proposal, for now we conclude with the importance of defending women's rights of enjoying the city, where no gender constraints or barriers exist, strengthen the idea of a community and we consider that the proposal is not a solution to the problem but a way to propel our culture to overcome the problem.