June 23, 2012
Kalpana Sharma
A recent survey about women and safety in
public places demolishes many myths about Kerala as a ‘progressive’ state.
Looks,
they say, can be deceptive. At first glance, Kerala’s capital city,
Thiruvanananthapuram, is not just incredibly green and beautiful but also
clean. The latter, in particular, seems a singular achievement given the
monuments of uncleared garbage that mark practically all cities, big and small,
in India. Yet, open a local newspaper and you read about malaria and dengue,
hospitals spilling over with cases and politicians almost coming to blows over
the garbage crisis. “So where is the garbage?” I ask the taxi driver. “It is
dumped on the inside roads”, he informs me, so that casual visitors like me
will not see the ugly sight.
The
garbage crisis in Thiruvananthapuram has reached epic proportions. In a state
where there is little uninhabited space, creating dumpsites for urban waste has
become a challenge. People living in villages such as Vilappinshala near the
state capital are refusing to allow dumps or waste processing plants to come up
in their vicinity. Not in my backyard, they are saying. So whose backyard will
handle the increasing tonnage of urban waste? That is a question that all
cities will need to ask — and resolve.
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| Big hit: A ladies-only bus. Photo: Vipin Chandran |
But just
as Thiruvananthapuram’s surface cleanliness hides the true story of uncleared
garbage and the spread of disease, the experience of women in Kerala also
stands out in marked contrast to the popular myth about their status.
We all
know that there are more women in Kerala than men — an exception in a country
where girls are being eliminated before they are born. We also know that women
in Kerala are more educated, have longer life expectancy, and get married later
than women in the rest of India. Yet, ask them whether they feel safe, and they
will tell you a story that speaks of disempowerment, of helplessness, of anger.
Revelatory
Sakhi, a
women’s resource centre, and several other women’s groups set out to survey
women’s perception of safety in public spaces in four cities in the state —
Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kochi and Thrissur. Their findings blow the lid
off the myth about the power of women in Kerala.
The
overwhelming majority of women surveyed in these four cities said that sexual
harassment was their main safety concern. They routinely experienced verbal and
physical harassment. Buses that the majority of working women are forced to use
were a primary site for such harassment. Women passengers were groped, pinched,
leaned upon. Apart from male passengers, even the conductors took their
chances.
Girl
students in particular had a torrid time. One student reported how someone who
stood behind her sliced her dress from top to bottom with a sharp instrument.
Another spoke of the abusive language used by bus conductors. Other women
talked of being leaned upon, about men “accidentally” falling on them when the
bus took a turn, of men using every opportunity to touch parts of their bodies.
Auto-rickshaws
were not a particularly happy alternative as auto drivers would refuse women a
ride much of the time and especially in the evenings when they most needed it.
In any case, most women said they did not feel safe venturing out after dark.
While
women in many cities have to suffer this kind of daily assault, what was
striking was how most women felt unsafe in public parks, beaches, theatres and
even standing at ticket counters. Cities like Thiruvananthapuram have beautiful
parks that would be the envy of people in cities like Mumbai where we are
starved for open spaces. Yet, in the verdant surroundings of Kanakakunnu Palace
in the state capital, you rarely see women, or even groups of women. Men
accompany the few that come there. My friends tell me that if a group of women
decide to break the norm, they will be stared at as if they are entering
forbidden territory.
Absence
of infrastructure
Apart
from the sexual harassment, for women the question of safety was also linked to
the infrastructure in these cities. For instance, the majority of women
complained about the complete absence of clean and safe public toilets. The few
toilets available were filthy and almost routinely used by men. The approach to
such public toilets was such that women would feel afraid to go anywhere near
them.
Poorly
lit roads, uneven pavements, open drain covers — everything that makes the
public space difficult for the elderly, for children, for the disabled also
impacts women’s sense of safety. Here is an important lesson for urban
planners. Make cities safe for women and the most vulnerable and they will be
safe for everyone.
Ironically,
even the women conducting this safety audit were harassed, stared at, touched,
hit and followed. They also found it difficult to persuade women to speak about
being harassed because of the dominant perception that only “bad women” get
sexually harassed. Hence, the women being surveyed felt that if they admitted
to being harassed, they would be considered “bad women”!
How women
are treated in the public space provides a true reflection of women’s status
and how they are valued by society. You can educate women, give them health
care and give them jobs. But if they cannot step out of their homes and offices
without the fear of being assaulted for no other reason than their gender, then
clearly there is something very wrong.
Courtesy:The
Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article3562199.ece#
