Dear readers,

Even one rape is one too many. Not just rape but the threat of rape, molestation, harassment, sexual innuendos, violation of personal space, lack of safety, absence of comfort and joy in cities and more are what millions of women across India deal with every day of their lives. Women are weary and exhausted. They are also fighting against misogyny and sexual violence, for safety and space. What kind of cities should be planned and built to provide for the lives and needs of women? Where are the gaps in the system? 

This edition of Question of Cities emphasises the urgent need for safety in cities but focuses on other aspects at the intersection of women and cities. Our continuing focus on gender was reaffirmed this week when two of our stories won the Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2024 which makes it four awards in two years for the journal. You can read the award-winning essays here and here.

Against the backdrop of the heinous rape-murder of a Kolkata doctor and the nation-wide protests for safe cities, Founder Editor of Question of Cities, Smruti Koppikar, weighs in on the issue. Safety of women anywhere is non-negotiable. It is the bare minimum and it is not entirely women’s responsibility. Women also need to be comfortable and at ease in cities, and belong to public spaces. Such cities have to be explicitly planned and built to include all women across caste, class, education, and income. Call them feminist cities or not but they are the future of city-making, she argues.  Read it here.

Across cities in India, women are looking for safe and clean public spaces, accessible convenience areas and toilets at regular intervals, areas that they can rest for a while, streets and footpaths that do not threaten even in the dark, and responsive mechanisms to complaints. Multimedia journalist Jashvitha Dhagey brings you voices from the ground. Although studies established the need to account for women’s needs in urban planning long ago, and toolkits are aplenty, cities have not normalised this yet. Read it here.

The metro in New Delhi was a game changer for women, making travel accessible, faster, and safer. Greater ridership by women is a good social indicator, says anthropologist and author Rashmi Sadana in this interview, because it means more women work, their health and well-being improve, cases of domestic violence decrease, women have more independence, and gain respect in society and their families. The metro, at least partly, addresses the safety concerns about women’s mobility but it is not yet a seamless and integrated transport system. It is very much about urban development and the politics of land distribution, she says. Read it here.

Architect, illustrator and urban practitioner Nikeita Saraf makes her debut in Question of Cities with this personal essay in which she shares her experiences of living as a young woman in a city and what it extracts from her. She explores how young girls are conditioned into behaving a certain way, within frameworks set in homes and schools, to remain safe at all times. This then influences the way women hold themselves in public spaces, all the time worrying and calculating how to safeguard their bodies. This is not only exhausting but also steals time that could otherwise have been better spent. Read it here.

In the Compendium, Team QoC explores cities across the world that have taken deliberate steps and adopted different ideas to make women feel safe and comfortable. Steps like improved bus service, free rides for women, inclusive infrastructure, deploying women cops on streets instils confidence among women, encouraging more women to join the workforce or be out in public spaces. Read it here.

Read interesting news from across the world in our regular section, , News Digest.

Hope you engage with each essay and give us your feedback. Consider subscribing to Question of Cities if you haven’t done so already (it’s free). And write to us at [email protected].

Thank you,
Shobha
September 06, 2024