Making Public Places Accessible to Women

The brutal expulsion of women from the common or public places is a sad but true reality of our community. There are so many factors involved; it would be quite tedious to point a finger at each and every one of them. The real question we have to ask is 'Do public places only belong to men?' 

The state of the current society does require a monumental effort to restore what has to be considered as basic rights of a human being. The blame partly lies on the way the values are taught in our diverse community.

The way we are taught as children is reflected through our actions in the future. Not treating women as equals by denying them access to public places is a proper and clear indicator of a person who doesn't really belong in the modern world.

Blaming the government policies cannot be considered wrong. The leniency of the government on this matter is not a good sign at all and such treatment of women creates a negative image of the county as a whole.

Ensuring safety of women in public places, being vocal about woman rights isn't something to be ignored. Such safety can only be ensured if the government acknowledges such facts and takes the desired help.

A few steps that can be considered or are already being administered by the government include access to clean public toilets for women, scheme for 24 hours women helpline numbers, National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) which was operationalized during the 2011-12 financial year as a central sponsored scheme aims to strengthen the overall processes that promote all round development of women.

Ensuring women safety in a common or public place through increased awareness and stern laws is always an option to ensure that women have access to such places.

NGO's and steps taken by other organizations like the UN Woman's Global Flagship initiative launched in November 2010 always help in raising the issue and increasing awareness amongst a wider audience. These schemes use a human- rights based approach to strengthen the voice of women and ensure gender equality.

Increasing the awareness can never be understated as some or even most uneducated women are not aware of such rights and hence do not ask for help while dealing with such issues as they are told from their childhood that dealing with such issues comes as a handicap to women. Ensuring that these women receive the invaluable education will help us go far towards achieving the goal of gender equality which will ultimately help in the cause of ensuring safe access to public places for women.

Being a citizen of such a prestigious and glorious country is supposed to be a proud thing. Why spoil it with such petty and backward thinking.

Content Writer: Harshit Kumar

Designed By: Garima Verma