Cairo, 10th of December 2025
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) has issued a new study titled: “Cities Without Women: How Does Urban Planning Exclude Women from Public Space?”
This is part of its online campaign, “Safe Routes,” which was launched in conjunction with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.
The study highlights that the design of the urban environment in many cities is governed by a dominant male mindset, making it a fundamental cause for the exclusion of women and the reinforcement of stereotypical roles. The study emphasizes that this spatial exclusion represents a hidden form of gender-based violence, as it restricts women’s movement, limits their freedom, and reducing their participation in public life.
The study identifies a set of challenges that women face in public spaces, most notably:
- Unsafe mobility: Public transport networks are primarily designed for the so-called “typical commuter[1]”, overlooking the complex and multi-purpose travel patterns of women, which often combine caregiving, shopping, and work. Poor lighting and narrow pathways further increase the risk of harassment and violence.
- Excluding public spaces: Streets, squares, and parks often fail to consider women’s needs in their design, creating unsafe environments that drive women to avoid these spaces as a form of self-protection.
- Neglected caregiving burden: Unequal distribution of essential services, such as nurseries, hospitals, and markets, increases the distances women must travel, thereby amplifying the time and effort spent on unpaid caregiving tasks.
- Greater impact on economically vulnerable women: Women, particularly those with limited income living in informal areas, bear a disproportionate burden due to the lack of essential services like water and sanitation, which jeopardizes their health and reduces their opportunities for education and employment.
The study reviewed inspiring experiences from cities around the world (such as Vienna in Austria, Umeå in Sweden, and Naga City in the Philippines) that successfully adopted “Gender-Sensitive Planning,” which contributed to providing safer and more inclusive public spaces for everyone. Such experiences confirm that achieving “Safe Routes” is a possible and feasible goal.
The study concluded with a set of recommendations, including the following:
- Strengthening Institutional and Political Frameworks: Establishing mechanisms for gender-responsive budgeting, and ensuring women’s active participation in urban planning committees and decision-making.
- Developing Safe Urban Design: Conducting community-led safety audits, spearheaded by women, to improve lighting, widen pavements, and raise safety standards in public transport.
- Relying on Data and Knowledge: Collecting and analyzing gender-disaggregated data to understand women’s travel patterns, and incorporating gender and planning topics into academic curricula.
Nehad Aboelkomsan, ECWR’s chairwoman, stated: “This study comes to affirm the importance of our ‘Safe Routes’ campaign. It reveals that the continued marginalization of women’s needs in urban planning means a waste of opportunity to build productive and safe cities for all. We face a moral obligation and a developmental necessity to redesign our spaces to be nurturing for women, not repelling.”
She added, “We call on decision-makers and planners to adopt these recommendations and benefit from global experiences, to transition toward ‘Cities for All,’ where spatial justice is a fundamental pillar for achieving social justice.”
To view the full study in Arabic, please click here
[1] The person assumed to be able to use transport easily, without any additional needs or special circumstances. That is, a person who does not face physical or sensory disabilities, nor bears responsibilities or requirements that increase the difficulty of their travel, such as carrying children or numerous purchases
