What are the policies needed to make the city safer for women?
What’s it about? Women’s safety is something that the local and state government has concentrated on with several policies and initiatives. Whether it be public transportation or walking on the street at night, infrastructure and policy gaps need to be addressed.
- The Corporation’s Gender Lab works at the institutional level and feeds into changes at the societal level. While the framework and best practices exist, the question is how these are implemented on the ground to have a tangible impact.
- There are gaps in the existing laws concerning women’s safety. The trust women have in institutions like the police and courts should be measured to see how effective the laws are.
For starters: Public spaces should be inclusive, and the majority view shouldn’t be the way to look at it. Pritika Meenakshisundaram of the Foundation for Intersectional Climate and Urban Sciences (FICUS) suggested women police personnel in parks and women conductors and bus drivers. Jothilakshmi Sundaresan, an advocate, said police need to be sensitised and have adequate staff to support the judiciary.