Are Our Cities Safe For Women.....

Are our cities safe for women?? Well, today women are under constant fear of being harassed and stalked by perverts. There are sexual harassment faced by the women, children and even kids, safety is a distance word in today’s world.

The level of atrocities against women is an indicator of the openness of society. Sexual harassment and immoral trafficking are high specially in suppressed societies, whereas it is less in fully-evolved metros. Women, particularly single women, would happily testify that as far as Indian cities go Mumbai makes them feel exceptionally easy at most times of the day or night (and specially the latter). The public transport system works efficiently, women can roam around freely till fairly late, and they can stay in hostels or as paying guests without too much of a problem. It isn’t as though eve teasing doesn’t exist. Take a walk down any of our railway stations or try getting into a crowded bus and you can be rest assured there will be unwarranted attention and intrusion by way of a Johnny who tries to get too close for comfort. But most women have developed a defense mechanism by which they know how to deal with this.
I for one would always feel safe in Mumbai, however after the horrifying incident in Dec 2006; I would say that the city is getting notoriously unsafe for women. The woman was stripped and molested in full public view by an unruly mob at the Gateway of India. Is this what our cities are coming to now???? I was shaken up by this incident as I happened to be in Mumbai at that particular time, and now I wonder whether Mumbai is still the safest city for women, as it was famously known.
What is important to understand is that peace and tranquility in cities is never appreciated until it has vanished. There is a perception that cities, which are presently safe, will continue to be safe, and that some invisible factor maintains that equilibrium. This is a myth, and the gradual increase in crime, violence and destruction of cities in India and all around the world bears testimony to the present fragile calm.
The issue of violence brings them into the centre. The focus of this presentation is to explore a very simple phase…." What works for women and children works for society." If women and children cutting across class and religion feel safe in cities, then those cities are safe. This is like a litmus test.
Most of the cities have changed from bad to worse. There is a lack of will among law-enforcing agencies to enforce rules. This has rendered the city comparatively unsafe, it is the parents who have to instill the right sense and teach their children how to tackle difficult situations for their own safety. Violence against women is prevalent everywhere in this country. There are law enforcement agencies to prevent such crimes against women but they alone will not be able to solve this scourge. The people’s cooperation is crucial in eradicating this menace. I believe that unless people come forward in rooting out such social evils, only law enforcing agencies will not do. And when the people are active in their drive against the crimes, the Police cannot remain a mute spectator though they are supposed to be the protectors of the citizens. They will be forced to dispense their bounden duties
Youths should be motivated to take social responsibility and protecting the children and women…this is the need of the hour. Parents should monitor children up to adolescent age and elders should set examples and youths to follow. Everyone thinks of changing the society. No one thinks of changing oneself. If we all abide by the rules, then I think the women in our cities shall be safer.
Recently, we witnessed gruesome and disgraceful incident by the Rajasthan youth who had gone to Jaipur to answer a test for the post of police constables. These boys molested the girls from Goa Home Science College who had gone on a tour of North India. it was a harrowing experience for the Goan girls as they had never dreamt that their tour would end up this way. Imagine the future would-be cops caught in such scandalous offence.
Can we say that our children are safe in these times; I for one feel that no city can be called to be safe for our children with each passing day, as we hear time and again about the alarming atrocious on women and children.
Also, the horrific stripping and abuse of an Adivasi woman in Assam. This is the most inhuman attack I have seen in my life where a woman is stripped on the streets of a state capital. I fail to understand how such barbaric incidents can ever happen, it is indeed beyond my imagination.
In all these circumstances, I would definitely worry for our daughter’s safety as they are more vulnerable; however I pray that all our daughters may be well where ever they are at schools, working etc. Another most important point to be noted is that our daughters should maintain their dress code so as not to excite the maniacs around them, keep it modest to avoid sexual harassment. Any dress, for that matter, can be worn both decently and indecently. The mode of dress has nothing to do with decency, but the mode of wearing it has something to do with it! I wonder whether decently dressed girls are spared by them! There are many incidents when our women and daughters who are dressed decently are the victims of molestation and rape. Some men are born as such and girls wearing indecently revealing dresses would only be attracting their attention as well as that of even decent men making them also cast furtive glances. This would be the worst damage a woman could be doing to men in general and to herself in particular. Let us not make even decent men indecent by wearing indecorous dresses and T-shirts with obscene wordings, if we need to make our cities safe for our women and children, in our already unsafe cities.- Arlette

Dear Arlette

Very timely post indeed. Today, when i browsed the google news, i picked up 5 different instances of molestation/rape across India. Fundamentally, the society should start respecting women at all levels of the society, I feel.

Cheers
Sumathy

I agree with Sumathy, that this is a very timely post. As of today no city in India can be called safe...including Mumbai.

The current vibrations are so negative, that even a father dosen't hesitate to rape his own daughter...then what to talk about others.

Teach daughters the art of self defence and to dress decently. Also keep a check on their behaviour and actions when they are out of the house. Make them understand in a friendly the pros and cons of whatever they are asked to do or not do.

Don't enforce anything on them then they will rebel. The same way also teach your sons to respect the fair gender.

I can go on and on on this ...but will stop here now.

Roopa.

I cant help wondering what is the reason behind men behaving like hooligans on this range. Everyone is born in a family with different ladies like mother, sister, etc. Then how can they behave like animals with other ladies.

No person will change for the better unless the decision comes from himself. We can only hope that parents bring up their children with good culture, educate them with decent concepts and help them be responsible individuals. Somewhere down the line, I feel that lack of proper education is also one of the large contributors.

Till then, women are left with no other safety measures other than caution, self protection, etc.

The cities are not safe for men so forget about women.