Local gendered dynamics: a study of perceptions of risk in Australian high crime communities

Abstract

Perceptions of risk and safety are tied to local community dynamics, and these have implications for both women’s and men’s perceptions of risk. This paper draws on 8 community focus groups of 56 participants who live in high crime neighbourhoods in Melbourne, Australia. The participants discussions revealed gendered narratives tied to the places they lived, providing insights into local gender dynamics that shape the way women and men perceive risk and understand safety. Women’s narratives of safety in the community focused on encounters with people in their local area. While men’s discussions centred on their perceived role as a protector and masculine identities. This paper provides a contribution to the scholarship on gender, risk and safety by highlighting the way in which perceptions of risk become imbedded in locally situated knowledge and demonstrates how gendered understandings of risk are distinct yet relational in community settings.