Urban Design and Gender Bias
From parks and play equipment to broader public spaces, girls and young women are becoming excluded from socialisation and physical activity, largely because urban design has become influenced by gender bias.
The ‘Make Space for Girls’ campaign focuses on changing spaces that are designed for the default male, encouraging girls to feel safe and included. It is an attempt at the reversal of female exclusion that has occurred due to urban spaces not considering the needs of girls – where they talk, play and exercise - and focuses heavily on the decrease in girls’ usage of outdoor urban spaces such as parks as they get older, leaving them with fewer places to spend time with friends and engage in physical activity.
At young ages, both male and female time spent in parks is fairly equal and girls aren’t as conscious of how they may appear. However, as they grow older and begin to visit parks alone, vulnerabilities start to arise.
As parental influence is removed, and girls are surrounded by boys, fairness is not as easy to enforce. Girls find themselves being judged or begin to feel intimidated by the boys who dominate football fields and BMX tracks. Soon, using a park’s equipment becomes dangerous; boys may begin to mock girls with impunity in the absence of adults or teachers.
Urban design influences this by tailoring parks to the common interests of boys, increasing their presence in parks whilst allowing girls to feel devalued in what should be an area for equal play. Collective sports such as football can be particularly worrying, as girls may find themselves in a minority; isolated in comparison to large teams or groups of boys and concerned about being hit by balls or caught up in aggressive tackles.
This contributes to girls’ views that parks provide little to nothing for them – that their needs haven’t been considered. Safe hubs for talking with friends, for example, or small spaces for physical activity instead of large open spaces where boys feel empowered whilst girls are forced to the periphery, are not considered, but could massively impact girls’ perceptions of parks and other public spaces.
Male hostility in public spaces is also a major deterrent. Where groups of boys tend to gather, such as skate parks, girls feel intimidated to enter the male dominated space, afraid of ridicule and shouting. According to a Make Space for Girls citizen science project carried out in 2023, ‘84% of those active on skate parks or BMX tracks were male’. Where male supremacy arises in these spaces, girls are discouraged from participating in unique sports, and the impact of this is borne on their physical and mental health.
This is reflected in school PE lessons as girls begin to dislike the boredom of traditional sports and more emphasis is placed on academic studies in the approach to examinations. By the end of year 11, PE lessons become swapped for revision sessions, exacerbating female disinterest in sports and an echo chamber is created between school and personal life.
If parks, skate parks, BMX tracks and PE lessons are inaccessible or unsavoury, where else are girls supposed to go, especially those who are not old enough to travel far on their own?
By encouraging urban design to be more inclusive, not only girls but other marginalised groups can be better protected, creating welcoming spaces that can be used positively by all.
Violet Crowton
Make Space For Girls background report 2023 - https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6398afa2ae5518732f04f791/63f60a5a2a28c570b35ce1b5_Make%20Space%20for%20Girls%20-%20Research%20Draft.pdf
Beautiful young wonam sits at summer outdoor cafe. | Free Photo
