Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager
Recent international headlines questioning the safety of women in India reveal what women within the country know all too well. Despite rhetoric of equality and empowerment in a country “on the rise,” women continue to experience systemic violence in many forms. A Hindustan Times article from September 2011 shows that “women in Mumbai are feeling increasingly unsafe and instances of violence against them are on the rise.” Incidences of rape, kidnapping, and molestation were all up from the previous year.
India is a highly patriarchal society where violence is often linked to cultural practices rooted in dowry demands, child marriage, and the unacceptability of divorce. Domestic abuse is pervasive, and accepted. UNICEF‘s 2012 Global Report Card on Adolescents found that even adolescents, not just men, feel that wife beating is justified. The report revealed shocking figures, saying that 57 percent of adolescent boys and 53 percent of girls in India think a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife. No matter the figures, the actual number of incidences is likely higher than any data could gather. Given the unwillingness of women to admit abuse for fear of retribution, the current data may mask a much, much larger issue. With little independence outside the home, women are isolated and left without formal, or even informal, recourse for the abuses committed against them. And for poor women, the situation is likely worse.
Poverty and violence
Everyday life in the urban slums is already difficult. Yet poor women, who are disenfranchised from the formal system — legally, economically and socially — are vulnerable to constant threat and harassment as they go about simple daily duties. Women and girls often use the cover of night to visit communal toilets, and many report being harassed — or worse — en route. Violence against women has become pervasive in slums throughout the developing world; for example, a 2010 Amnesty International report revealed that in the slums of Nairobi — where recent violence has been highly publicized — perpetrators range from spouses and family members to youth gangs and even government security personnel. There, more than half of women have experienced abuse and violence. In South Asia, the statistics on women’s physical insecurity are similar, though few reports, policies or interventions address the issue. A 2011 study on slum upgrading and safety in Bangladesh reveals that crimes against women are less visible “but more deeply entrenched and possibly more all-pervading” than other serious threats to slum-dwellers.
In Mumbai, a new program being promoted by the country’s biggest cricket star, Sachin Tendulkar, focuses on teaching young boys to respect women, starting at a young age. The program, called Parivatan, aims to reduce gender violence by using major cricket stars as role models who work to dispel the idea that “real men are aggressive and violent,” says the International Center for Research on Women, one of the main organizations running Parivatan. The program is taking place in over 100 Mumbai schools and is based on the U.S. campaign, “Coaching Boys into Men,” which was launched by the organization Futures Without Violence.
In addition to awareness-raising among male youth, other programs are working with the female victims themselves. Kalpana Kadam, a former health worker with the organization SNEHA — which works to promotes women’s health and safety in Mumbai’s slums — embarked on a research initiative in Dharavi, leading her to identify that domestic abuse was a significant issue. Most concerning to Kadam, who was conducting the research as a Quest Fellow, was the “extent to which these women had accepted abuse as a normal part of life.” Kadam worked with the women of Dharavi to use their collective voice to identify perpetrators and protest against these actions and behaviors. “The success of the protest was a powerful demonstration to the women of their own ability to incite change, and their confidence in discussing sensitive issues began to grow,” says the report on Kadam’s work. These women usually have very little decision-making power in their lives, making organizations that bring together a unified voice against violence an important step in taking action.
Gendered space
While domestic abuse accounts for the majority of cases, women also experience harassment, rape and violence outside of the home. A recent book, Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets, reveals that the country’s cities are designed exclusive of women. City planners and administrators ignore the need for safe, public spaces for women: “Public spaces and infrastructure are usually designed for an abstract ‘generic’ user. In the context of an ideology that deems women’s proper place to be at home, this imagined ‘neutral user’ of public facilities and infrastructure is invariably male” (67-68), says the book, whose three authors include an architect, social scientist and journalist. This male-engendered space can be seen with the lack of appropriate street lighting, for example, which has been noted to increase the vulnerability of women in cities after dark. Another case is the subways (underground walkways) in Mumbai — promising infrastructure that allows pedestrians to cross the city’s chaotic streets with ease underground. However, in a study last year conducted by the Hindustan Times and Akshara, a local women’s organization, 37 percent of the 4,225 women interviewed had faced harassment in the city’s 20 subways, and nearly 76 percent of them perceived the underground walkways to be unsafe.
“Dimly lit, poorly maintained and almost always unmanned, subways are often home to several anti-social elements and illegal activities,” said the article. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which builds and maintains Mumbai’s subways, has decided to move forward with elevated walkways above ground for future construction. This type of planning shows that women’s safety is being taken into account, and sets an example of how cities should move forward with more awareness in their development.
Similar to the anxiety over using public toilets or subways, women are just as insecure when using public transport. A step forward in Mumbai, at least, has been women-only compartments on local trains. Buses in Mumbai, however, do not have the option of gender-separated seating. A December 2011 article in the Hindustan Times cites a World Bank-sponsored study from the previous year that found women felt unsafe while boarding and exiting buses in the city. The report was a gender assessment of Mumbai’s public transport systems. With bus conductors insensitive to women’s complaints about harassment on overcrowded buses, women avoided using the bus. Lack of “female-friendly” toilets near bus stands was cited as another reason for non-usage of buses. Bangalore has responded to these types of incidences by creating women’s-only space on buses as well. Currently, the response in Mumbai has been a launching a helpline for commuters. The general manager of Mumbai city bus company — Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) — boasted that since the helpline’s inception, not a single complaint has been received from women about harassment. His statistics, however, may reveal less about the newfound safety of public transport than about women’s fear of authority in the city.
Promoting women, reducing poverty
The promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment around the world cannot be successful unless physical spaces — public and private — are free of violence and harassment. The MDGs are predicated on a safe environment, without which girls would not be able to attend school and women would not be able to access new income-generating or political opportunities. But as the studies of women in India show, a safe environment cannot be assumed, and violence prevention needs to be more closely linked to poverty reduction. The strategies to eliminate violence against women and girls, which is highly intertwined with the country’s religious and societal customs, will require solutions that include education for men, inclusive urban planning, public official training and avenues for women to report their grievances without fear.
Providing women safe opportunities to engage in public space is an essential first step, since without access to public transport or the ability to walk safely down roads, women have no means for advancement. The urban environment is meant to be the heart of progress and social liberalization in countries where women’s roles are continually developing. India’s urban areas need to bring women’s safety issues to the fore of urban development. Only then can women’s empowerment follow successfully.