Elsa D'Silva is the founder of Safecity, a global organization and online platform that is creating safer spaces for women. Through Safecity women can safely report cases of harassment and assault on a crowd map. Safecity uses this data to spark awareness of sexual assault and harassment, close the gender data gap, and influence public policy. As a social entrepreneur, D’Silva has earned numerous accolades and is a Vital Voices Fellow.

*edited for clarity*

TW: sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Elsa D’Silva at Vital Voices event PHOTO CREDIT: Elsa D’Silva

Meera:

It’s so nice to speak with you, Elsa! Can you start by describing Safecity? How does it work and why is it important?

Elsa:

It's a crowd map where we crowdsource anonymous stories of sexual violence, and the idea is to document the incident as most women and girls do not go to any official authority to make that complaint. This underreporting ends up making the issue invisible in a way, because the official statistics do not reflect the true nature and size of the problem. So that's the gap that we are trying to fix, where we provide a safe space for anonymous reporting. I started this as an immediate response to the gang rape of Jyoti Singh in Delhi in December, 2012.

Meera:

When you get this data or these anonymous reports, do you then send that to official accounts or the police? Or is Safecity more of an alternate source for this kind of information?

Elsa:

Our site is an open source site where anyone can access this information so that they can improve their own situational awareness or help in their decision making. So who could access these reports? It could be individuals like you and me who want to understand the landscape of an area and be better prepared when accessing that public space. It could be again, you and me, who want to engage our community and our discussion around this issue. It's hard to speak up about our own individual cases, but when it's an anonymized dataset, dis-aggregated at the hyper-local level, it's easier to start a dialogue and to say, how do you feel about so many incidents taking place in this location? Can we as a community do something about it? You could also make a representation as an individual or as a community to your local police, civic officials, elected representatives, or campus administration. But we do send the dashboards to the police, and two or three police forces we know of go directly to our website and access the data. We've [also] had researchers access the data and use it in their research.

Meera:

And Safecity has now become the largest crowd map in India on sexual harassment and abuse. Can you talk a little bit about how Safecity has grown over the years?

Elsa:

When we started, this was meant to be an online website where people could report. However, we realized that people wanted more than just reporting — they also wanted to take action. So, we started inviting young people to volunteer with us and educate their communities about the spectrum of abuse and their rights, and also show them these data trends and engage with them on solutions. That's how the momentum picked up, because people found value in the data. It's a chicken and egg thing, you need the data to find the solutions. Once you start implementing solutions, people recognize the value and are more willing to give their stories. We also realized that there's lack of awareness on what constitutes sexual violence, and that led us to conducting workshops in schools, colleges, communities, and corporate [spaces]. Through those interactions as well, we had people come forward and share their stories. I would say though we say it's crowdsourced, most of the stories come through these in-person interactions.

Meera:

And you also started in India, correct?

Elsa:

We started in India. I'm based out of Mumbai, but the first two cities that we worked in were Mumbai and Delhi. We now have people in several cities in India using our data on the ground in communities with partner NGOs. We partner with an NGO in a community who already has a trust relationship built in that community. We collaborate with them because we have a very niche area and they could be doing general stuff for women and girls. We partner with them in this particular area and show them the value of reporting and data. Then, we work on building their capacity in dealing with sexual violence and making representations to the police, et cetera. That becomes a long term partnership. We also have partners in several other countries like Kenya, Nepal, Cameroon, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, and Malaysia.

Meera:

Safecity is now a global organization.

Elsa:

We started with Safecity, which was supposed to be just a tool, but we registered a nonprofit in India two years later in November, 2014. We also registered a 501(c)(3) in the U.S.

Meera:

Safecity focuses on collecting data about sexual harassment and abuse. Why do you think that this type of data is not available through government organizations or police organizations?

Elsa:

Not just in India, but in most places, there's a cultural taboo that is associated with this kind of crime. It's hard for women and girls, who are socially conditioned since birth to accept this as their lot, and therefore it's become normalized. It's hard in such a scenario for women and girls to speak up, but also, for that matter, men and boys. Social norms dictate how we should behave and what is appropriate or not. For example, if young boys are abused, they find it very hard to speak up because they are meant to be strong and take care of everyone around themselves. If they can't take care of themselves, how can they be the protector?

We have so many people walking around with this trauma, which is not spoken about nor reported, and therefore the general society does not have a strong understanding of what causes these things to happen. But, they're also not willing to intervene, so you have a very distrustful environment around you. You don't trust the people around you, you don't speak up. There's no data. The police don't act. The justice system is way too lenient, and it goes on and on and on. It's up to the woman to prove that she was innocent. You have things being said like, “you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, you were wearing the wrong clothing, you said something that made it happen”. You often are made to believe it was your fault that it happened, when in fact it was the ecosystem that allowed it. Therefore, the crowd map is very important — you can study these patterns and trends and try and make sense of the factors that are causing it to happen. For example, a location. What is it about the location that makes it the comfort zone of the perpetrator, and can that be changed?

“You often are made to believe it was your fault that it happened, when in fact it was the ecosystem that allowed it. Therefore, the crowd map is very important — you can study these patterns and trends and try and make sense of the factors that are causing it to happen. ”

— Elsa D'Silva

Meera:

What do you think it is about your platform that makes women more comfortable when reporting these types of incidents?

Elsa:

You don't have to leave your name and email. You don't have to sign up anywhere to make an account, and our current mobile app is undergoing an upgrade. When it is ready, you don't have to even register, you can just use the app. You don't have to leave your name, email, or tell us where you live, et cetera. You can just put down what happened to you, where it happened, date and time, and pick some categories. We ask for your age, but again, age and gender is only to understand who it's happening to so that we can make more sense out of it.

Meera:

I was actually reading this book recently about the gender data gap and how we don't collect enough data on how our institutions affect women. Things as simple as lighting on streets can make a big difference when it comes to sexual assault and sexual harassment. But we just don't even think about collecting data on this issue.

Elsa:

And why is that? Because most persons in power are not women. It's not their lived experience, so they don't actively think about it. That is why data is so important, but also a feminist lens, so you can think about it from everybody's perspective and design systems that work. For example, public transport. Most women and girls don't own their own transportation, unlike men. They use public transportation more than men. Also, women tend to take many trips in a day because they often have the burden of doing the domestic work — picking up the kids, dropping them off, doing the grocery shopping, running errands. You do many more trips by public transport, and if public transport is not safe, then how can we assure them that they can really do well, like their male counterparts? You always have this thing at the back of your mind that you're vulnerable to a threat. You always rush back when it's dark. You always want to be home quickly, things like that. There's a research study that was done, and they used our data set as well, to estimate the [amount] that girls or women in Delhi spend. They spend about $300 extra every year just to stay safe.

A lot of girls drop out of school if their family doesn't think it's important or necessary. Maybe they compromise on their career choices, don't want to travel too far, don't want to travel late at night, don't want to travel [at all]. They don't want to travel if their job involves traveling. So is it really a level playing field if we are talking about equality?

Meera:

I found it really interesting that you started Safecity in 2012, but before that you had a career in aviation. What was that turning point for you? What made you want to become a social entrepreneur and start Safecity?

Elsa:

I had spent close to 20 years in the aviation industry, and I was kind of reaching a saturation point where I was looking for my purpose. I wanted to do something different; I felt like I'd achieved whatever I set out to achieve within the industry. I wanted to give back for women's rights, but I didn't know which aspect to focus on. In 2012, several things happened. The airline that I was working with closed down, went through a financial downturn, and eventually shot. It gave me an opportunity to take a pause, like how we are doing here in COVID-19. External factors give you this opportunity. And whilst I could have taken up another corporate job, I said, let me give myself some time.

I really wanted a break to think about what [I wanted to] do next, instead of rushing into the next job. Initially, I thought mentoring women to achieve their potential is what I would focus on because it was an area I knew. Then Nirbhaya happened, and the conversations around me indicated that this was a very serious issue which needed urgent attention and out of the box thinking. I was also part of a program by the Swedish Institute where I’d heard of a similar initiative in Egypt called HarassMap Egypt. I said, okay, that's cool, but it's not urgent. But, on returning to India in December, this gang rape took place and that made it urgent to implement. I said, okay, let's try this — and it picked up momentum. One year after launching, our mentor sat me down and said, “look, you got to make a decision if you want to continue with this or not because you have something going for you”. That's when I said I would dedicate a hundred percent of my time [to Safecity]. Since then, it's been no looking back.

Meera:

Through your work, you have created safer spaces for women by creating awareness of where incidents have occurred. What other steps do you think we need to take as a society, both in India and globally, to reduce sexual violence and sexual assault?

Elsa:

First is education. I think sex education should be compulsory in all schools and colleges. There should be sexual harassment policies in workspaces and even on college campuses — create ecosystems where it is easy to report. There's so much shame and taboo around this issue that it really makes it hard for someone to come forward. The last is sensitivity. Gender sensitivity when dealing with these cases, whether it is educating campus authorities, civic officials, or even the police, because these people have the power to make that change, but it just doesn't happen. It might be the luck of the draw that you get a good police officer. But what if you don't and somebody doesn't take your complaint in India, for example, or they don't take it seriously enough?

Meera:

On college campuses in the U.S., I know it's a big problem because it's almost become normalized. That's just what happens in college, but that shouldn't be something that's accepted or normalized. I think, as you were saying, it comes with education at a young age and education about consent. It's not a complicated thing. It's just, “no means no”. That's an important thing as well. Can you describe one moment or share a story of when you really got to see a visible impact on the lives that you are touching globally?

Elsa:

I remember when I was doing a child sexual abuse workshop: a nine-year-old girl came up at the end of the workshop, and she tried to explain something that had happened to her where an uncle had touched her inappropriately. She said, “now I'm going to go back home and tell my mom, because I now know it was not my fault”. That really moved me to tears. If she knows it's not her fault, it's easier for her to speak up and tell her mother, and that, in turn, sets the ball rolling in so many ways to make that change happen. There [was] another incident in a college, where a 17-year-old girl shared that she had been abused by a religious teacher when she was very young and that made her distrustful of a lot of men, including her male relatives.

After this workshop, she was able to reconcile and try to make attempts to repair some of those relationships, knowing that not all men are perpetrators. She didn't have to be afraid of everybody. We subconsciously adjust our behaviors, and that can be very limiting in many ways, right? Trust issues, changing your pattern of dressing, changing your movements, limiting your mobility, self-censoring, self limiting where you just say, “oh, maybe that option is not for me” because of this reason, not even trying to achieve it. When I hear these personal stories, I really know we are making a difference. Then [on a] community level where using the data, they've got the police to change beat patrol timings. They've got the police to increase vigilance. Crime rates have gone down.

Safecity mural PHOTO CREDIT: Elsa D’Silva

There's more trust within the community and with the police. Public toilets have been fixed. Street lights have been fixed. I use this example all the time because it just shows the power of data and simple interventions. You've been to Delhi, right? You know the male gaze — the staring, the constant staring, it's so intimidating, right? We were working in this community in Lalpur, and these girls had pinpointed a spot where staring was an issue. When you looked at the context, there was a tea stall. Tea stalls are kiosks on the side of the road, mainly male spaces where you won't find a woman hanging around drinking tea. They would feel intimidated on the way to work, school, college, etc.

They said, “we would like the staring to stop.” Now, how do you get the staring to stop? We organized an art-based workshop, and they painted staring eyes on this wall, a beautiful wall mural with subtle messaging saying, look with your heart, not with your eyes. We won't be intimidated by your gaze. We will stand up”. They're not saying anything, it's actually talking through the walls. This was so powerful in putting the community on notice, that they actually took cognizance and they stopped that behavior. We've used similar wall murals outside the girl's college [and] on public toilets, which are hotspots. The cost of those murals is nothing, less than five dollars probably.

Meera:

What do you see in the future for Safecity? Do you see expanding to more countries or collecting data on a greater scale?

Elsa:

A couple of things. One is data on a greater scale. That's the reason for me doing the app. We are putting an empathy layer, so that you feel like even though it's technology and that you are sharing your story anonymously, somebody is walking with you on that journey. Second, I would like to partner with more institutions like civic municipal bodies and the police, so that we can have them use our data. Of course, we are doing a lot of educational programs, even now we've got a grant to [teach] 5,000 children in the next few months [about] cyber bullying, cyber harassment, and responsible use of tech. Right now, because of the lockdown, we can reach more people in different places. That's what I am focusing on. We filed our first public interest litigation where we've asked for domestic violence services to be listed as essential and budgets to be made available — but we also would like to influence policies on safe public spaces, inclusive cities, and urban design so that they look at it from a gender sensitive lens.

Meera:

That's amazing. What advice do you have for other women who are trying to become social entrepreneurs?

Elsa:

The biggest thing is: pick a topic that you love working on, because social entrepreneurship is not easy. More people fail than are successful. The failure is for many reasons. I mean, it's all one big experiment in a way. Pick something that you're passionate about and that you enjoy doing, because when things are tough, you will still find it meaningful. And when things are good, you don't really need that extra motivation. Second, be prepared that for the first three to five years, it's a real struggle. Then, you might have something like COVID-19, which brings everything to a standstill. You’ve got to be prepared. You never know what can go right or wrong. Most of it is beyond your control. The third one is to look for mentors, and ask for help. Don't feel afraid to ask for help. I've constantly asked for help. I've begged for help. And thankfully I've always received it.

Meera:

You just talked a little bit about COVID-19, has that had any effect on Safecity?

Elsa:

It has had an effect on us in many ways. One is most of our programming — not most, all of it has moved online simply because we are still in lockdown mode. We can't go out and we can't meet our communities, nor do we want to because we don't want to put the communities at risk. Everything's moved online. A lot of our communities may not have access to digital devices, so we've had to find innovative ways to stay connected with them. Then, domestic violence…we never worked on domestic violence per se, before COVID, but now we have pivoted and included it as well. We have something called Safe Circle, which is a safe listening space for survivors of domestic and sexual violence every Friday at 3:00 p.m.

Meera:

I know in the U.S., domestic violence cases have risen with COVID-19 because people are staying in their homes. Have you kind of seen the same thing happening in India?

Elsa:

Oh yeah. We have a forced lockdown, so it's very strict. We can't go out even to exercise, so we have to stay at home and only go out for essential groceries.

Meera:

Where can people go to learn more about Safecity or submit information online?

Elsa:

They can currently go to maps.safecity.in.

Meera:

Can they also get involved or volunteer?

Elsa:

Sure. They can write to info@red.foundation.org.

Meera:

Can you describe a moment that you felt powerful?

Elsa:

I wouldn't say powerful. I would say very satisfied. I feel that I'm on the right path to fulfilling my purpose. When I hear these stories of change, when I see girls walk very confidently, when they don't have any fear, when they go back and extend their education. So many of them are not allowed beyond a certain grade to continue, because their parents are scared. But they go back and they negotiate with their parents to say, “we know how to protect ourselves,” or “we are sure this is what we want to do” and they do it. When I hear these stories, I feel it's a job well done. So I won't say it feels powerful, but yes, I do feel satisfied.

Meera:

I think that's powerful. I think you're making such a big change in people's lives and that's amazing.

Elsa D'Silva, Founder, Safecity | Mumbai, India