Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 7A

Protecting Our Daughters 

• Opportunity: Women in the United States have to fear for their safety, especially when they are alone because there are an astounding amount of violent crimes against women. Every hour in the United States, 2 women are murdered, 12 are raped, 124 are assaulted, and 900 are the victims of theft (http://www.self-defense-mind-body-spirit.com/crime-statistics.html). I believe that a device that could clip to your pants pocket and would sound an alarm, plus, call the police when a button is pushed would make women feel more protected. Possibly, it could reduce the number of women that are victims of these crimes. 
• The who: Women and young girls of all ages 
• The what: They are victims of murder, rape, assault, theft, and other crimes 
• The why: Trying to take advantage of women—abduction, assault, and harassment. Some people think that women are easier to take advantage of because they won’t be capable of fighting off an attacker. 
• Testing the who: Not only in the United States, but globally, women are victims of these horrific crimes. In Europe, 215,000 sexual crimes were recorded in 2015. Almost 80% of these were rapes. Not only women are victims of these crimes but men, as well; 10% of these crimes recorded in Europe were male victims (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20171123-1?inheritRedirect=true). However, I believe that women would be more willing and feel the need for more protection against crimes. 
• Testing the what: Women are victims of various crimes, including others that I did not list, such as, robberies and violent crimes. Although many crimes are committed by spouses or partners, 26% of the rapes and sexual assaults were by a stranger. In 2005, 18% of crimes on campus were rapes, 53% were aggravated assaults, and 28% were robberies. My opportunity would be beneficial for women that are in public when they are attacked or in their home. Whether they are attacked by someone they know or a stranger would not change the opportunity. 
• Testing the why: Why people take advantage of women is unknown. Some crimes against women could stem from passion, for example, a husband abusing or even murdering his wife due to an affair. Whereas, some crimes could be due to the attacker fulfilling a desire. However, some crimes are senseless. 

Interview 1— This interview was with a college aged girl that recently graduated from the nursing program. I found that she mostly feels like she needs more protection when she is alone at night. Plus, she somewhat changes her life due to the apparent violence. She doesn’t go out alone and she is always checking her surroundings. However, she still feels scared. When explaining the device to her, I forgot to mention that it would have a GPS location to let the police know where the victim is. Her suggestion to make it better was to have a location service on it. 

Interview 2— This interview was with a high school student that just started venturing out on her own sometimes since she got her driver’s license. After completing the interview with such a young girl, I found that younger people tend to be more unaware of all of the crimes against women in the United States. She was shocked to here the statistics. She suggested adding a microphone feature to the device so the victim could actually communicate with the police. 

Interview 3— This interview was with a woman in her 70s. I wanted to get her perspective to see if age would be a factor in buying the device. Although she said she would buy the device, she said that she did not feel the need for more protection. Which makes me wonder if she actually would be willing to buy the device. It was apparent that she does avoid places and people that could harm her, but since she is older, she does not feel like it plays a big factor in her life. I think this shows that as women get older they may feel more secure and not as worried about things that could happen. 

Interview 4— I did this interview with a man that is 23 years old and has a wife and two kids. He has a job and has taken classes on campus before. I wanted to get his perspective to see if a man would even want to buy this product. He made it clear that he did not think he would benefit from the product. He said he has never felt scared (even when walking through a parking lot alone at night) or the need for more protection. He was unaware and somewhat surprised by the number of crimes against women.  Although he would not buy the device for himself, he said he would buy it for his children. He didn’t really feel his wife would need it. Overall, this interview really opened up my eyes to the ways men think about crimes against women. He definitely wasn’t worried about having more protection, even for his wife. So, I think he may be thinking although violent crimes happen to women, it would never happen to my family. There was a shocking difference between the way the women I interviewed felt and the way he felt. 

Interview 5—  I wanted to interview this college aged woman because I knew that she had her concealed carry permit. I wanted to see if this would make a difference. In my opinion, it did make a difference because she did not feel unsafe like the most of the other women did. Although she felt worried sometimes, she felt that she could defend herself. However, she also said that she would try to avoid certain places or have someone go with her if she thought it was unsafe. 

What do you know about your opportunity that you didn’t know before? 

• After completing these interviews, I found that the device could benefit any woman— from young girls to elderly women. Also, it seems that high school aged girls are not very aware of the facts; whereas college aged women and older are very aware. 
• I discovered that it would be more beneficial to have a microphone in the device so the victim could actually communicate with the police. 
• Women of all ages said that they would buy the product, even those women that felt more secure. 
• After interviewing a man, I don’t think that many men will want to buy the product for themselves. When it comes to men buying the product, I think it would be a good strategy to mention daughters, mothers, and wives to encourage men to buy the device for these women.