Over 11,000 women list nearly 13,000 dangerous locations in the Netherlands
Pointer and AD have compiled a map of nearly 13,000 locations in the Netherlands where over 11,000 women feel unsafe, based on an ongoing survey. In half these places, something happened to the women themselves or someone they knew.
All these places are specific areas that women prefer to avoid or where they feel uncomfortable, because they fear that something could happen to them there. The map, along with personal accounts, is available on Pointer’s site.
At a location on Piet Mondriaanlaan in Amersfoort, for example, a woman described how a group of young men attacked her friend and hit her with a glass bottle in the face. She, herself, had been followed multiple times.
Another woman describes a park on Provincialeweg as “badly lit with many drunk men” walking past. “If something happened here, no one would hear or see.” Another Amsterdam woman was on Cornelis Lelylaan when a man chased her on a bicycle, yelling remarks at her.
A woman in Breda warned about men hanging around the train station, verbally and sometimes physically harassing women. “Sometimes the police are there, but by far not always.”
The questionnaire also showed that women regularly adjust their behavior for fear of being attacked. They avoid specific places after dark, choose alternative routes, share their live location on their phone, and let friends know where they are.
At 20 percent of the locations, women report arming themselves to keep safe. Many women say they walk with their keys held between their fingers. One walks with her phone in one hand and “a bar I can use to defend myself” in the other.
When Pointer first published this map in June 2024, it consisted of 8,100 dangerous locations recorded by around 7,400 women. Since 17-year-old Lisa’s murder in Duivendrecht last week, the map has grown to include the experiences of nearly 1,600 more women, the program said.
