‘Indeed, it all starts with safety’: analysing the gender perspective through (un)safety rationale in Basque urban governance

Urban policies with a gender perspective in the Basque Countryhave evolved significantly over the decades, yet persistent chal-lenges remain in addressing deep-rooted spatial and genderedpower inequalities. This article investigates how gender is prob-lematized and governed through the lens of (un)safety in Basqueurban governance. Based on an in-depth analysis of municipal pol-icy documents and interviews with planning and equality profes-sionals, the study reveals how (un)safety operates as a central logicthat renders gender perspectives actionable and politically legible.While this framing enables interdepartmental collaboration andfacilitates the implementation of gender-sensitive interventions, italso risks narrowing the scope of gender equality work to technicalfixes, thereby silencing more structural and intersectionalconcerns