Introduction: Prior to Industrial Revolution, women only held traditional roles, but the emergence of modern industrial society facilitated women’s widely widespread entry into various social spheres, and resulted in remarkable changes in their roles. Although women have achieved considerable successes across various fields, they have also consistently faced numerous challenges. Security is one of these challenges, particularly in metropolitan areas worldwide, which has evolved into an acute social issue. This situation is equally evident in Iran, a country that has undergone significant changes in the status of women in recent decades. In light of this context, the aim of this research is to investigate the sense of security among women and its relationship with self-esteem and social trust in the metropolis of Shiraz.

Method: This quantitative study utilized a survey approach to gather data. The population consisted of women aged 15-45 years residing in Shiraz, with a total of 384 participants selected through multi-stage random sampling procedures. The research instrument used to assess the sense of security was the Security and Pleasure Questionnaire (SPQ) developed by Gilbert et al. (2009). Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire (1965), and social trust was assessed using the Mirfardi and Qarnaei Social Trust Questionnaire (2016). To ensure the reliability of the questionnaires, the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was employed yielding values of .79, .83, and .81 for self-esteem, sense of security, and social trust, respectively.

Findings: The descriptive findings revealed that the average level of sense of security among women fell below the moderate level, suggesting that sense of security remains a challenging problem in metropolitan contexts. Furthermore, the analytical findings demonstrated a positive and significant relationship between self-esteem and social trust with women's sense of security. The results indicated that self-esteem and social trust accounted for 0.28 of the total variance in women’s sense of security. The results also revealed that the demographic variables of marital status and educational level do not significantly affect the sense of security.

Conclusion: Women constitute half of the population in every society and play a crucial role in the development process of modern industrial societies. However, the lack of a sense of security can hinder their progress, making it imperative to address this social problem. This research concludes that by improving women’s psychological self-esteem and social trust capacities, the sense of security in metropolises can be enhanced, potentially alleviating a significant challenge faced by women in the country.