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It’s common knowledge that misogynistic violence is an ever-worsening issue across the UK and that local authorities aren’t doing nearly enough to protect us from it. We spoke to Erin-Jane Roodt, who’s designed an innovative new app that enables us to feel less vulnerable, live our lives without fear, and, in worst-case scenarios, bring our attackers to justice.
For women, it’s a no brainer: a strange man is undeniably a threat.
This is something that’s ingrained in us from birth. We’re told to stick together, to not drink too much on a night out, to not jog alone in the dark, to watch carefully for a shadow that’s not our own to appear beneath streetlights, to never listen to music too loud when walking, to lock our car doors as soon as we get in, to always carry a rape alarm, to not wear a ponytail because it’s easier to grab than a bun. The list, unfortunately, goes on.
Across the globe, misogynistic violence is an epidemic. In the UK, it’s been declared a national emergency, with crimes including stalking, harassment, and sexual assault affecting one in 12 of us. The number of recorded offences has grown by 37 per cent in the past five years.
Despite these alarming statistics, however, the issue remains grossly under-addressed. Almost half a century since the first Reclaim the Night march, extremely little has changed. We’re still part of a society where it’s normal for us to live in fear and we’re beyond exhausted.
‘I think the lack of tangible solutions has primarily to do with the fact that it’s an incredibly complex problem that’s existed for as long as the patriarchy has,’ Erin-Jane (E-J) Roodt, tells Thred. ‘We’ve never had equality. This is all just a symptom of that sincerely bleak reality.’
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Conscious that we’ll be collectively working to get to the bottom of this for some time yet, E-J stresses the importance of investing in short-term remedies that will at least bolster our sense of safety until broader action is taken.
This outlook is what laid the foundations for Epowar, the innovative new app she launched recently, which uses AI to reduce our feelings of vulnerability in situations we’re undeservedly obliged to approach with caution.
‘Consider it the Swiss Army knife of women’s safety,’ she says. ‘Epowar seeks to empower women to be safe on their journeys and we’ve poured a ton of love into building a tool that we truly believe will revolutionise this.’
But how exactly does it function? As E-J explains, the idea came to her upon learning that smartwatches can detect heart attacks.
‘I had the “lightbulb” moment that these devices could be used to detect physical attacks and contacted my friend (now co-founder and CTO) Maks Rahman, an engineer who built the prototype.’
Essentially, by connecting a wearable to the app and giving Epowar permission to access health data from your device’s motion and heart rate sensors, it can detect when you display signs of distress. It will then automatically alert the friends or family members you’ve chosen to track you – without you needing to push a single button.
‘We’ve made it overly-sensitive so it won’t miss anything,’ says E-J, ‘but we’ve also trained it to mitigate false alarms as well.’
‘The AI models use a combination of motion and heart rate to spot solely what’s abnormal for YOU. And if Epowar does get it wrong (perhaps if you break into a spontaneously wild dance or wrestle with your umbrella), you can always swipe “I’m OK” before anyone is alerted. This way you don’t have to worry about accidentally scaring people.’
As for those without a smartwatch, E-J and Maks have ‘re-imagined’ the SOS button, allowing users to activate it from their lock screens which then notifies friends and family loudly (even if their phone is on silent or do not disturb). They can also call you straight from the app and navigate your live location.
‘The key is that it all happens automatically,’ says E-J. ‘An assailant would have little or no time to prevent this, which is not always possible with conventional panic buttons or rape alarms.’
