11 Oct Pin and Yang: The journey of young women using the Safetipin App
“The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night is the day we can see that India achieved its independence” – Mahatma Gandhi. Even after 76 years of our independence the freedom to be able to walk safely in our cities is still being snatched away from us. This holds especially true for young women who in their most formative years of life and development both physically and mentally, are constricted inside the looming walls of their houses without question for the sake of “safety”. To tackle this concern the “My Safetipin” app attempts to create safe pathways for women to traverse their cities and has multiple tools to keep their safety in check at all times. Hence, here is my journey of using an app with such tremendous responsibility.
The app’s interface is smooth and runs without any hiccups. Using the app on a daily basis was a bit of struggle, afterall as a homebody going outside was not an extremely common occurrence and even so to remember to do an audit when simply stepping out to get groceries is something that needed an active reminder. “The AI feature makes it so much easier though” says Ada, 15 years old. The thought of completing a whole audit when simply running some errands can seem burdensome at times, but the AI feature makes it much faster and easier to complete, easily becoming one of the most frequented features from young women. Furthermore, the differences between the AI and manual features are quite minimal and its assessment is quite fair, however that is only true if the person is trained to do proper audits.
I tested out the AI audit in three different places and compared it to the quick audit one. Although there were a few minor differences the app largely had given the same results for both places, showing thought and care behind both. Regardless, the quick audit allowed users to give information that wasn’t directly noticeable in a single image which allowed for more in depth information of whether an area is safe or not. Additionally, besides all the various helpful parameters available, the “gut” parameter added a lot of nuance and detail to the audits, because a lot of times safety is a gut instinct which is indescribable to a lot of women, hence this feature validates those experiences.
The main motivating factor for me personally using the app was its point system. Gaining points for doing an audit or sending the app to a friend was extremely rewarding and gamified the process of using the app, keeping one hooked to earn more points and badges. In addition, the call help feature was extremely useful, keeping track of helpline numbers in a state of panic is not feasible, hence, having it present directly in the app allows me to use it as my first instinct when in an unsafe situation.
Another often overlooked fact about the app is how it trains your gut to identify potentially dangerous situations in real life because from doing many audits the next time you go outside you make a note to look out for things like lighting, number of eyes, public transport, etc. This is especially helpful for young women who haven’t gotten as much exposure yet to be safe and identify signs of an unsafe area to avoid.
Lastly, the app truly feels like one catered towards women as it looks out for their needs and is built on a community for women. It makes one’s voice feel heard and get to know their city better from a woman’s perspective, which is something a lot of safety apps fail to do.
The “My Safetipin” app shoulders an enormous task of making cities safer for women. Even though some tweaks or needed to improve the overall experience of using the app, the fact they are listening to young women for their perspective shows their commitment to improve. As time progresses, it is expected that it will improve and flourish, to protect the freedom we women deserve in our cities.
