Why Women Feel Unsafe in Nature: The Gender Gap in Green Spaces

Safety fears limit women’s access to green spaces, creating gender gaps in health and wellbeing. Here’s what can change.

Would you rather encounter a man or a bear in the woods? This question went viral on social media in 2024. To the surprise of many, thousands of women answered “the bear”. The debate that followed exposed a reality: for many women, the biggest threat in nature is not the wilderness. It is other people.

Spending time in non-threatening green spaces is good for health and wellbeing: it reduces stress, promotes physical activity, fosters better mental health, and lowers the risk of chronic disease. Yet these benefits are not equally shared. Women tend to visit nature less frequently than men and feel less safe in parks.

What makes women feel unsafe in nature?

In our recent study in England, we compared women’s and men’s perceptions of green spaces. Participants viewed images and videos of country parks with varying vegetation density (from open to dense) and different potential threats (from wild animal to social harm).

The results were clear:

• Women consistently reported higher levels of fear and risk than men, especially in dense green settings.
• Social dangers, such as the threat of assault, outweighed physical dangers like wild animals for women — but not for men.
• These perceptions influenced behaviour: women were less likely than men to say they would visit or return to those environments.

In short, women’s relationship with nature is not only shaped by the physical landscape but also by the social risks they anticipate within it.

Why this matters for health and equity?

Feeling unsafe in nature is not just an inconvenience — It is a public health issue.

If half the world’s population feels less able to use these spaces, access to these health benefits becomes profoundly unequal.

This contributes directly to gender inequities in health and wellbeing.

What can be done to improve women’s safety in green spaces? 

Closing this gender gap requires action on multiple levels:

• Landscape design and maintenance: keeping vegetation from becoming overly dense may help. However, the real issue is social — women are not afraid of trees, but of strangers.
• Addressing harassment and gender-based violence must be the real priority. Stronger protections, public awareness campaigns, and a deep cultural change are necessary to make parks safe.
• Promoting green spaces as safe and welcoming for women: social norms influence how boys and girls use outdoor spaces from childhood. Changing these expectations can ensure women feel equally entitled to nature.

And these are not just gender issues. Children, older adults, ethnic minorities, or LGBTQ+ individuals may also feel unsafe in nature — and would benefit from safer, more inclusive green spaces.

Nature for all: making green spaces safe and inclusive

Nature can be a powerful tool for global health. If women and other vulnerable groups avoid nature due to fears of violence, they lose opportunities for wellbeing. Addressing safety in green spaces is therefore not only a matter of urban design but of public health and social justice.

 If we want nature to be source of health for all, then efforts to promote access to green spaces must go hand in hand with efforts to prevent violence. And making nature safer for women means making it healthier for everyone — and building more just and inclusive cities.