Pink boxes: photo booths become a refuge for women in Italy

Italy is transforming photo booths into a refuge for women where they can call for help.

They will be scattered throughout the cities, in the most difficult areas, and it will be enough to push the button on the Pink Box to open a connection with the 1522 call centre, the violence and stalking help line that received 54 thousand calls in the last quarter of 2023 alone. A free, multilingual, 24-hour public service.

Thanks to a project between the association ‘Differenza Donna‘, and Dedem, a company specialising in the manufacture of photo booths, 50 booths located throughout Italy, from North to South, will be equipped with a device that will enable women threatened by any form of violence, physical and psychological, to use the booths themselves as first contact points with the violence and stalking help line, simply by pressing a button.

By the end of June the first 50 Pink Boxes will be set up, from Agrigento to Milan, via Naples, Rome, Turin, Verona and Bari, to name but a few cities. By the end of the year there will be 300 points, thanks to the technological support of DMP Electronics for the production of the device.

“Access to 1522 is a fundamental protection for women experiencing violence,” explained the president of ‘Differenza Donna’, Elisa Ercoli. “It means having the availability, in anonymity and confidentiality, to deal with experts who listen to the reality she is experiencing, getting her out of a defensive and dangerous situation”.