The Thomson Reuters Foundation conducted a survey in 19 of the world’s biggest megacities as ranked by the United Nations to find out the safest cities for women.
- The foundation conducted its survey to find out which of these cities are safe for women – and which need to do more to ensure women are not at risk of sexual violence and harassment and harmful cultural practices and have access to healthcare, finance and education.
- In each of the 19 megacities, 20 experts focused on women’s issues including academics, non-government organisation workers, healthcare staff, policy-makers, and social commentators were contacted by the surveyors.
- The surveyors asked 19 questions from these experts. The questions were based on the sexual violence, access to healthcare, cultural practices, and economic opportunities.
Top 5
- Cairo was ranked as the most dangerous megacity for women from a U.N. list of 19 cities. The city has harmful cultural practices for women such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage
- Karachi was ranked as the second most dangerous megacity for women. Karachi was ranked second worst when respondents were asked if women were are risk of harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
- Kinshasa ranked as the second worst of the world’s megacities for women alongside Karachi.
- New Delhi was ranked as the worst megacity for sexual violence and harassment of women alongside Brazil’s Sao Paulo. Delhi was fourth worst of the cities in the overall poll and ranked as fourth worst when respondents were asked if women had access to economic resources such as education, land, and financial services such as bank accounts.
- Lima was ranked as the 5th riskiest city for women and 5thworst for women seeking access to economic resources such as education, land, and financial services such as bank accounts.
