Having been ranked in the bottom five of the Safe Cities Index, Jakarta is also in the top ten of the list of the most dangerous mega-cities for women, from a result of a poll by the Thomas Reuters Foundation.
The poll, which was conducted in 19 countries, had experts on women’s issues discuss their views on current safety measures and which needed to do more.
The experts were comprised of academics, non-governmental organization workers, healthcare staff, policymakers and social commentators. They were asked questions on four focus areas: sexual violence, access to healthcare, cultural practices and economic opportunities. The answers to those questions were then quantified into a score for each of those topics based on a scale of 1-19 (with 19 measured as safest), which contributed to each city’s overall ranking.
Jakarta was ranked ninth in the overall ranking. Cairo was ranked first, followed by Karachi and Kinshasa; both cities ranked second.
Of the four areas under assessment, Jakarta scored lowest in the cultural practices area which looks at whether or not women are protected from potentially harmful cultural practices including female genital mutilation; child, early or forced marriage; and female infanticide. The popular tradition of female circumcision and early marriages are likely to be factors that have led to Jakarta’s ranking.
Indonesia’s capital was also in the bottom half in the sexual violence area at number seven but scored better than average in the areas of access to healthcare and economic opportunities.
The cities ranked safest on the list are Paris, Tokyo and London.