As a male, even I have noticed an increase in the number of women who are scared and apprehensive - and this is from the perspective of being a long-term resident in a small, rural village on the Welsh borders.
As a responsible dog owner, I take my dog out twice a day, on one of the local dog-walking 'circuits around the village. Unsurprisingly, I frequently meet other walkers coming in the opposite direction; virtually all the women walkers seem nervous and apprehensive - despite the fact that I see many of them on an almost daily basis. The roads around here are very narrow (single car width) and I tend to say a cheery "Good morning" or "Good evening" and give them as much space as possible. If I go for a run, I actually avoid 'overtaking' female walkers - due to the fact that it might cause them to feel fearful, if they were to hear footsteps from behind. In my experience as a male walker/runner, there are many fearful women out there - and this is something that (in my experience), has become more commonplace in the last 20-30 years.
A couple of months ago, I was up in Shetland - I stayed on one of the smaller islands. I was out walking the dog and I happened to meet two women walking towards me - they stopped to talk to me (rather than vice versa) and I was actually quite taken aback, by how confident they were - clearly, they were in an environment where they felt 'safe'. They were interested and interesting; it struck me, that this sort of conversation just wouldn't happen on the mainland UK, but on a small, remote, crime-free island, such occurrences are commonplace.
'Guidance' for women includes such homilies as - 'plan your route home', 'let someone know where you are', 'walk on well-lit streets', 'look confident if you are walking by yourself', 'pretend to be on the phone' etc. Where incidents do occur, the victims are often regarded as being 'in the wrong place, at the wrong time' - which IMO, is victim blaming. We can and should, be doing far more to make the world a safer and more civilised place for women.
Currently, we live in a world, where women are told that public spaces are 'dangerous' - and that they must take steps of their own to stay safe. But surely, it is the behaviour of (some) men that is the problem and therefore, this is what needs to be addressed ?
Yes it's really annoying that we are given this long list of things to do to 'keep ourselves safe'
Whilst were are very rarely the 'dangerous' ones.
Great - more shoot to do, and think about, and spend energy on.
Plus also of course working out whether police are the 'real deal' - trustworthy or not.
Building awareness and encouraging thoughtfulness around this issue is key though.
Actions taken, language used, thinking about it more.
I'm not generally nervous around men at all in most situations, so long as they're not being creepy or overbearing in their verbal or body language, I don't encounter it so much these days.
I'm one of those 'confident" women pretty much anywhere, but there are quite a few reasons for that.
Attitude, experience, physique, and not being prepared to have my freedom curtailed.
So many women however don't have that confidence, and that's not for no reason, either.
Some have had really horrible experiences.
I do get to hear from a far greater number of women now , going out and about by themselves and really getting a lot out of that.
Reclaiming their right to freedom.
Gaining more confidence, and independence, and enjoying themselves.
I really hope that will continue to build.
But there's still a lot more work to be done in other areas, in urban settings, in the workplace, in the domestic sphere, in the media and online, to create places where no one has reason to be fearful, whilst going about their perfectly legitimate lives.
Far more could be done to make that happen.
I really think it needs a lot more effort and understanding from the decent guys though, to counter some of the nasty stuff that is arising.
Not to just ignore it, and hope it goes away.
