In Sweden's north, a city where women feel safe
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The northern Swedish city of Umeå is regarded as a paragon of equality. Nowhere else are public spaces more geared toward women's needs. But for years, fear was a part of life on this community's streets.

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TLDR

  • Umeå in northern Sweden is one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities, offering a high quality of life despite the long winter’s dark and cold.
  • In surveys, 99% of residents say they feel safe during the day, and 90% of women say they are unafraid to walk alone at night.
  • Following the trauma of a serial rapist active in the city, authorities have worked hard to eliminate spaces of fear, listening closely to women’s needs and concerns in the sphere of public safety.

A look at the statistics casts light into this subarctic darkness: Umeå turns out to be more than just an education hub. The city also occupies top relative positions in terms of its infrastructure, the equality of opportunity, and sustainability. In October 2024, it was named the location in Sweden with the best quality of life. According to the crime statistics, it is the only significant urban center in this country afflicted by gang wars that does not have a neighborhood classified as «vulnerable» by the police.

Within the EU, it is considered a model of sustainable and inclusive urban planning. Fully 99% of residents say they feel safe during the day, regardless of their gender or age. And even at night, almost nine out of 10 women say they are unafraid to walk the streets alone. For comparison: According to the December 2024 survey, about 50% of women in Bern report feeling unsafe at night. In Zurich, 70% of women avoid certain streets and locations after dark.

Something must be different in Umeå. How is it possible to create such a pervasive sense of security in a place where it is constantly dark?

  • seven_phone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    16 hours ago

    All men can be educated to treat people with respect, to say otherwise is plain misandry but of course calling that out does not virtue signal quite as easily as misogyny. Every word of misandry spoken detracts from your case of misogyny because given freedom the genders are equally prone to those thoughts, understanding that is how it is removed from society.