‘So angry’: Heidi Murphy on the reality of being a woman in this city

Aiia Maasarwe was using one those ‘tricks’ nearly every women has been told.

“She got off that tram and did what many of us do — grabbed her phone and made a call,” Heidi said at the start of her program this morning.

“It’s one of those tricks that women just know. That we’re taught. That we’re told. That we’ve discussed with parents, mates and partners.

“‘Be on the phone and you’ll be that little bit safer’.

“The streets of Melbourne should be safe. Absolutely. But, like it or not, clearly they are not.

“There are nights where I’ll walk home late from the train station — I’ll have a night out, public transport home, walk up the hill in the dark.

“I do the phone thing.

“I do the key-between-the-fingers thing.

“I walk faster if I see somewhere near me.

“It is automatic. It is behaviour I’ve learned. I think all women learn it and absorb it.

“It should not have to be that way, but it just is.”

Click PLAY for full of Heidi’s emotional program opener