StillWeWalk

And still we walk: Mapping pathways to safe and inclusive public spaces in India

Author(s): Priyadarshini, Pratikshya, Damle, Aarohi & Kulkarni, Pooja

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Published Year: 2026

And Still We Walk maps the evolving landscape of civil society interventions addressing gender-based violence (GBV) in public spaces across India. It approaches public spaces as fluid and lived where violence co-exists with mobility, habitation, use, visibility, work, and social control, especially for marginalised groups.

Based on an exploratory, multi-stage research process, the study documents 31 interventions using the Social-Ecological Model (SEM). It applies this lens to examine how risks and protective factors interact across individual, relational, community, and societal levels. The findings show that GBV in public spaces is sustained by interconnected risk factors such as restrictive norms, unsafe infrastructure, weak institutional accountability, and broader structural inequalities. In response, interventions adopt multidimensional protective strategies that address these conditions. These include four key dimensions of work: improving infrastructure and planning, transforming gender norms, strengthening livelihoods, and enhancing responses to violence. Together, these approaches aim to reduce risk, expand access, and challenge the conditions that normalise gender-based violence in public spaces.

The report offers a grounded evidence base to support more integrated, long-term efforts to build safer, more inclusive public spaces.

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