Annus horribilis for women in city

Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh’s immediate response was to declare 272 places in the city as unsafe and put the onus on owners to ensure these spaces were well-lit and guarded enough. Four months on,the police are now wary to let New Year Eve parties continue till late,again citing vulnerabilities of the city’s women to hooliganism.

But is it for the police to provide them safety or restrict their movement and access to public spaces to prevent a crime? The larger issue is about making safety of women intrinsic to urban planning and design.

Sameera Khan,co-author of Why Loiter?: Women And Risk On Mumbai Streets,recalls that while researching for their book,they found women had instinctively developed safety strategies. “We found women constantly looking for escape routes to leave a public space,as they feared unwanted attention. At Nariman Point,men would come down for a snack,stand and eat. But women,if alone,parcelled food and left immediately,” she says.

Khan says while designing infrastructure,authorities must look at challenges an end-user will face while using it. For example,when planning a skywalk,if there are advertisements on the sides of the skywalk,the street vision is blocked. “So will women feel comfortable walking the skywalks late evening or even in the afternoon at non-peak hour? Will they fear getting harassed?” she says,pointing out that planning always assumes a ‘neutral’ citizen or a ‘generic’ user.

Similarly,Bandra-Kurla Complex might be beautiful,but many women do not feel safe to be in that space post-business hours. Or vertical parking spaces in building floors may be a good architectural concept,but it instils fear among lone women travellers.

Nandita Shah,co-director Akshara Centre,an NGO which has spent 18 months studying the city to map urban resources and access to women,says,“Safety is directly connected to urban planning. When we plan urban spaces,we need to first answer how both men and women access these as users.”

Contrast this with old neighbourhoods such as Kalbadevi and Gamdevi,which with their chaotic ambience,ensure alert citizens at every given hour with commercial spaces spread in the ground floor and settlements on top floors. Shivaji Park,for instance,defines the actual purpose of open spaces,of interactions and community growth.

Former Mayor Shubha Raul says that while the city machinery has a “gender budget allocation” for women empowerment,it doesn’t have a separate allocation on gender security. “There is no sense in empowering women with employment if they cannot feel safe stepping out of their homes,” she says.

For women to feel welcome and hold a sense of equal propriety,a sense of acceptance needs to be groomed among both genders,according to Naina Kapur,a lawyer who specialised in preventive law and equality compliance). “In Canada,there are gender audits which look into the reality of women,and make changes to urban designs based on their needs. Further,in matured societies,women occupy public spaces without fear,for they know that if there is a breach,someone is accountable and action will be taken. Societies need to invest in gender compliance,for behind every brick and mortar there is a person running it,and someone who will be held accountable if there is a violation,” says Kapur.

smita.nair@expressindia.com

alison.saldanha@expressindia.com