Volunteers Needed for Important Safety Study in Philadelphia

Female Wanderers, in fact female runners in Philadelphia, are needed for an important study exploring how safe the city is for women to run in. The investigation is being conducted by Dr. Emily Roper, a Temple University professor.

Emily is hoping to interview approximately 40 female runners in Philadelphia in the next few months. The interviews would last from about 30 minutes to an hour. She plans to amass the data by the end of the summer, then write a report from the information and then submit her findings for publication in an academic journal. In addition, she is hoping to discuss her report, once completed, with local running and public interest groups.

In conducting the interviews, Emily said she wants to ask women about their running habits and patterns, and their perceptions of danger while they run, especially when alone. “I want to find out how women, when alone, negotiate through their fears when running,” she said. “What level of caution do people think is appropriate.”

Safety for women runners became a serious issue a few years ago when one jogger was raped and killed in Fairmount Park and a couple of assaults were reported. Although other attacks have not been reported since then, an uneasiness persists over how safe the city’s parks are for running.

In fact, Councilman Michael Nutter has convened an ad hoc committee to look into the issue of safety, and measures to improve lighting along Martin Luther King Boulevard and to improve cellular phone reception in the Wissahickon have been approved and expected to be enacted in the next year.

A resident of Chestnut Hill, Emily is a lifelong runner. “When I moved to Philadelphia, I started running by myself a lot more,” she said. “ I have had a couple of uncomfortable experiences. While running on the trails of the Wissahickon, a couple of males followed me and made jokes about the runners who had been assaulted and murdered." “It was very unsettling. I love running, but I feel limited by my gender.”

Emily said she expects the final report to be about 30 pages and hopes to be completed by the end of the year. While the report will address female runners' experiences and perceptions within Philadelphia, the issue of safety for women as a national level will also be addressed. For this reason, the report should be especially relevant for Philadelphia runners and could result ultimately in concrete steps to improve running safety in this city.

Female runners should contact Dr. Roper to volunteer. Emily, who is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Temple, can be reached at her office telephone 215-204-1947 or by e-mail eroper@temple.edu. All interviews will remain confidential. Kinesiology is the study of the anatomy, physiology and mechanics of body movement.

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