Welcome to the Netherlands, land of gezelligheid, bikes, and... silent detours.

You might think safety in your own neighborhood is a given, but for nearly half of the women aged 15 to 25, that assumption doesn’t hold. When 45% of young women say they sometimes take a different route, just to avoid parts of their own buurt, we’re not talking about irrational fear. We’re talking about lived experience.

Let’s unpack this.

Avoiding the Dark Corners of Home

CBS dropped the numbers in its latest Emancipation Monitor and Safety Monitor  and they’re not just numbers, they’re warning signs.

Here’s what women are doing in 2023:

From teens to retirees, women across the board avoid certain spots in their own neighborhood. Men? Not so much. Not even half as often.

And before you say, “That’s just city life,” guess what: in non-urban areas, the rate drops significantly. In the countryside, 21% of women take detours, in big cities, that figure doubles to 44%. Urban life, it seems, comes with more fear than freedom.

Locked Doors, Locked Trust

What do you do at night when someone rings the bell?

If you’re a 65+ woman, chances are you won’t answer. In fact, 70.4% of older women sometimes choose not to open the door after dark.

That’s not a crime story. That’s a trust story.

The pattern holds: women shut the door more than men. Even when they’re not alone. CBS notes that living solo doesn’t fully explain it, women are simply more cautious, regardless of their household setup.

Fear Isn’t in the Head, It’s in the Stats

Fear of crime isn’t just about being a victim. It’s about expecting to be one.

Nearly half of all women say they’ve feared being victimized in their own neighborhood. It’s not paranoia. It’s pattern recognition.

Fear is remarkably consistent among women, from 15 to 65. Among men? The younger they are, the less they feel it.

Maybe that says something about the types of experiences society prepares us for, or fails to prevent.

Urbanization: The Multiplier of Fear

In the city? You’re more likely to:

• Walk or drive to avoid unsafe areas
• Leave the door shut at night
• Fear becoming a crime victim

And women experience all three more intensely than men do, in every corner of the country, but especially in urban environments.

Why This Matters for Business, GRC, and Leadership

If you're a CEO, founder, or advisor, don’t file this under “personal issue.” This is governance. This is compliance. This is risk.

Because when 45% of young women are altering their basic behaviors to feel safe, at home, you’d better believe it affects how they:

• Choose jobs
• Attend meetings
• Trust clients
• Build networks
• Speak up

In other words: this isn't a gender problem. It's a company culture problem, a policy failure, and a risk blind spot.

No, you don't need to build walls or install more lights. But you do need to ask yourself:

"Does my company culture reinforce safety, or pretend it’s someone else’s problem?"

The Xtroverso Takeaway

Governance isn't what’s written in a document. It’s what you do when no one’s watching.

Risk isn’t a number. It’s the sum of all the decisions not taken, the voices not heard, the doors not opened.

You can’t lead if your team doesn’t feel safe.

You can’t grow if your clients don’t feel seen.

And you can’t pretend safety is neutral, when the data screams it’s not.

If you’re ready to bring truth into your boardroom, accountability into your culture, and real risk intelligence into your strategy, welcome to our corner. We don’t sell safety. We build the systems that make it non-negotiable.