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Plan It Safe: Raising the issue of women's safety in your community
The role of council as the facilitator of an interagency safety partnership, is still relatively new. Councils may need to learn about community safety strategies and the advantages of this approach in helping to make communities safer. Councils are interested in the views and concerns of the community and are likely to respond to issues which have strong community support. Sometimes, the community can help councillors to gain an understanding about the communities concerns and the actions which council could take. This message is often best communicated to councils and councillors by lobbying them. What is lobbying? _________________________________________________________ Lobbying is the process of getting support for your cause or issue. It is usually targeted at influential people such as councillors, the general manager of your council etc.
The most effective way to lobby local council is to demonstrate strong community support for your concerns. Strength in numbers does count when you are dealing with politicians. If an issue attracts a lot of attention, and the community demands a response, then councillors will usually take notice.[1] Planning you lobbying strategy _________________________________________________________ Lobbying is like running a communications campaign. Your main task is to get your concerns heard by those who have the responsibility and the authority to address them. Another important task of your lobbying campaign may be to run awareness-raising activities for the community as a whole. The community may not be aware of what can be done to improve safety. Or they may have felt unsafe in their community for so long, they have given up trying to make public places safer. Working with other members of your community, and letting people know about safety, can help to gather stronger community support for the issues. Before you take any actions in your lobbying campaign, it is best to plan your strategy. The planning process involves a number of steps. 1. Clearly identify your issue Your issue may be very broad and across the whole local community – for example, to make public places in your area safer for women. Or you may decide on a site specific approach – for example, to make the transport interchange area safer for women. 2. Clearly identify your aim You may decide on one aim – for example, to encourage local council to form a community safety committee and address women’s safety concerns. Or you may have more than one aim – for example, to improve lighting in the park and increase security supervision in carparks. If you decide to have more than one aim, try to make sure they are complementary aims and that you have the resources to achieve them all. The most important part of identifying your aims is that everyone who is involved in your lobbying campaign knows what they are and agrees with the direction. This can help to avoid conflict and tension at a later stage. Sometimes there are several outcomes to your campaigning which may be acceptable. For example, council may agree to participate in a safety audit, or they may agree to conduct a survey into community perceptions of safety. While these steps by council may not achieve your overall aim, they are still very important steps for your council to agree to. It is important for you to celebrate these steps as successes for your campaign. 3. Identify influential people in your local council and area You may directly lobby one or more councillors or other stakeholders in community safety. Perhaps one or some stakeholders have already expressed some interest in community safety initiatives. If so, start with the most interested and willing. You may also lobby council staff – in particular, the general manager, town planners and/or community services staff. You can also lobby influential members of the community. Gaining support from these people or groups can also be invaluable. For example, the Chamber of Commerce would be a valuable organisation to have on side. They usually have a lot of influence with councils, and are likely to be interested in safety because it can impact on business. 4. Identify who can help you run your lobbying campaign If you can, it is best to work with other people who also have an interest in women’s safety. If you have formed a Safe Women Group, then this can be an ideal core group. If you haven’t, then you may wish to consider starting one, at least to help you with your lobbying campaign. Section 3 for more information about how to do this and some of the advantages of working as part of a group. 5. Form coalitions and partnerships with other interested groups There are a number of groups in the community with an interest in women’s safety. They may be able to help your Safe Women group to raise the issue of women’s safety in your area. Make contact with the following people. Regional Violence Prevention Specialists NSW Police Service – Community Safety Officers Community organisations in your area Local businesses Existing community and resident groups
If you decide to do a safety audit as part of your campaign, make sure there are plenty of women involved. Equally as important, invite people from local council to participate. Also consider inviting any other influential members of the community who you feel may benefit from this firsthand experience. Firsthand experience can be very helpful. To help you conduct your safety audit we have include a booklet called Women’s Safety Audit Guide. It is in the sleeve of this kit and can tell you everything you need to know about how to do an audit. Raising community awareness about women's safety _________________________________________________________ The following are some suggestions you could consider which can help to raise the issue of women’s safety in your community. You could use some details from sections 5 of this kit to put together an information or fact sheet. Hand this out to people you talk to. A fact sheet doesn’t have to be long, in fact the shorter the better. You could use the Women identifying safety problems – a summary. Hold an information forum Invite members of the community (residents and workers from local agencies and council) to an information or discussion forum which has a women’s safety theme. You could consider a community safety theme if you thought this would generate more initial interest. Perhaps you could show the Ask Any Woman video as a discussion starting point. It may also be invaluable to get people to explain some of their personal experiences of safety in public places. Personal experiences can be good discussion starters. If one person feels unsafe in a place, it is likely that many people do. These kinds of ‘information’ and ‘discussion’ events can provide an opportunity for people to talk about safety and realise that there are things that can be done. It can help people to become enthusiastic and involved. Prepare a safety update newsletter Consider preparing a short newsletter which contains an update of your safety campaign. The newsletter would be from your local Safe Women group and is a great way to keep other members of the community involved and interested. The newsletter can let people know what has been done, where you are up to and what problems you may be encountering. A newsletter can also help your Safe Women group to become known among the community. This is an important part of lobbying and may be particularly important in encouraging more women to become involved in the campaign. You could hand the newsletter out when you talk with people. Or collect interested people’s address and put together a safety mailing list. Letting council know about your safey concerns _________________________________________________________ Petitions An effective way to let local council know about your community’s concerns is by organising petitions. Petitions to local council don’t have to drawn up in the formal language that is necessary to present a submission to state or federal parliament. Here’s how you prepare a petition.
It is important to make sure any statements you make on your petition are accurate. It will also be important to check that council is actually responsible for the places where you want safety improved. For example, it is no use lobbying council to improve the railway station itself, because this is City Rail’s responsibility. Use terms on your petition that everyone will understand. Try to put your petitions everywhere. In shops, in community organisations, doctors’ surgeries, hospitals, the library, the schools, the police station. Talk to the manager or proprietor of the place. Let them know about your issue and what you are doing. If they support your concerns, they can ask people that come into their shop or use their facility to sign the petition. Write personal letters Write personal letters from your group to relevant politicians or council staff members asking them to do something. You could ask them to:
Send as many letters as you can. Get as many different residents, businesses and agencies to send personal letters too. Letters are always best if they are addressed to a particular person, and use this persons name rather than their title. Participate in council activities There are a number of ways in which the community can participate in council activities and decision making. These are outlined in section 3 of this kit. Become as active as you can. Perhaps delegate tasks or meetings to different members of your campaigning Safe Women Group. This can help to spread the workload. Working with the media _________________________________________________________ The media is a tool for communicating with people. Your local newspaper and local radio station are probably most relevant for this type of campaign. The media may be able to help you achieve your lobbying goals. Through the media, you may be able to reach and perhaps influence members of the community, councillors and potential supporters. What is news? News is a ‘good story’. News is usually something that is new, interesting or relevant to a large number of people, is about people and contains some conflict. Most news is actually created by people. People send the media information which lets the media know about their ‘story’ or their ‘news’. They do this by sending media releases. However, getting coverage is not always easy. The media receives hundreds of media releases every day. Before you prepare a media release Know your story very well. Before you talk to the media, know what it is you are trying to say and what it is you hope to achieve from media coverage. This will be very important in making sure the information you give to the media reflects the story you want to tell. Also, make sure of your facts. If you are going to say something publicly, be very sure it is accurate. There is nothing more damaging to a campaign than details that are inaccurate or that you can’t support.
Writing a media release Once you have done your background research you are ready to prepare your media release. A media release is a summary of your story. It provides the where, what, when, how and who. There are some key things to remember about your media release.
Address your media release to:
Appoint a media spokesperson Be prepared for interest in your story. The media may want to speak to someone or organise a photo. It is a good idea to appoint a media spokesperson for your campaign. Perhaps someone with some experience with the media and public speaking. The spokes-person will be the main contact, so it is important that she is able to be accessible and able to make comments with little preparation. Always remember, if you don’t want something reported, don’t say it. Keep it short and keep it simple
In what other ways can we work with the media? As well as creating news, we can also respond to news. Calling talkback radio and writing letters to the editor are also ways to make a point publicly. We can also respond to misinformation, inaccuracies and offensive material. A media directory You may want to consider developing a media directory of print, radio and TV media. Try to include contact names of media that is particularly important for you. For example, the editor and journalists from your local newspaper. Also include details of media targeted to people from non-English speaking backgrounds and Indigenous Australians – for example the Koori Mail. Responding to inaccuracies If you read or hear reporting that is inaccurate or offensive, you can respond or complain. Send a letter to the editor or producer of the program or newspaper. Outline the inaccuracy and include the correct information. Ask for a public correction to be printed or broadcast. If you want to complain about offensive reporting, outline what you found offensive and why. If you do not get a response from the publication or broadcaster, you can take your complaint to one of the following:
Further reading _________________________________________________________ Women’s Refuge, Referral and Resource Centre 1997, It’s not love, it’s violence – an information and resource kit about domestic violence Endnotes _________________________________________________________
__________________________________ | Introduction | Women Talking about Safety In Public Places | Community Safety and Women's Fear Of Crime | Partners In Community Safety | A Community Safety Forum | From Wasteland To Heartland | Raising The Issue Of Women's Safety In Your Community | Contacts | |
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