Individual In Action – Let’s change the narrative around women’s safety 

“What if the government set up call centers to call women relentlessly like those spammers pitching credit cards, insurance, and home loans?”, said one of the respondents to ET Magazine for on their recent Voice issue. Utopian but does sound like the country cares for women’s safety in real terms. 

There has to be something fundamentally wrong with us a society where time and again we have to discuss how to protect our women in public spaces, where common sense should have been enough. In our country, men have raped eight-year-old month babies as well as a 100-year-old woman. Our country permeates misogynist culture like no other, where women are constantly told, “Don’t wear this, this dress is too inviting.” Instead of telling the men, “Don’t stare, this is inappropriate.” Unfortunately, most of us have been raised in a way to ignore stalkers and debauchee. We are told eve-teasing is normal and the best way around it is to ignore instead of reporting it. Leading us to a dichotomy where women are expected to participate in the public spaces but at the same time avoid public spaces to protect themselves. 

This calls for us to change the whole narrative around women’s safety at four levels – 

Shift the onus

Don’t take the deserted lane, don’t travel late at night, carry a pepper spray, share your location. We all have heard these slew of suggestions from our family and friends a thousand times. Well precaution is must and necessary but there is something problematic with this entire narrative where the onus of safety has been squarely put back on women. Of course, women don’t want to be assaulted and of course, they take every bit of a safety measure to protect themselves but should that be all? This narrative only triggers more panic and make women perpetually live under fear. We need to shift the narrative to making public spaces safe rather than keeping women safe.

Towards an inclusive approach

How many of us fear being groped in a crowded bus? Mostly, because of this we completely avoid taking public transport. But what about those who cannot afford cabs or private transport? Just because they belong to an economically marginalized sector do they have no choice but to be subjected to sexual assault? Why is our approach towards women’s safety based on an assumption that in a panic situation, all women will have the ability to call a friend, or all women will be able to run from a distressed situation? Recently, a lot of apps on women’s safety have also been introduced but again this is only for a sector that first, owns a smartphone and second is tech-friendly to use the app. But what about the others? Is women’s safety only for an entitled class? 

Regular gender sensitization sessions

We all have heard this a zillion times in life, boys will be boys, you take care to avoid trouble. Well does that mean we will be subjected to sexual harassment for just being? To alter this, we need to engage in conversations around men, which has to begin in public fora and highest offices. Boys need to be taught that staring is not okay, passing lewd remarks is not okay, touching a girl without her consent is not okay. These conversations need to become a part of the school curriculum. We need gender sensitization for everyone and it shouldn’t be just limited to offices. Though, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act under Section 24 states that the government should organize awareness programs but has that been done? Unless this mindset changes, no matter how many laws we pass, women are not safe. All rhetoric of “women’s safety” will remain just empty words without aggressive campaigns to change minds. 

Whistleblower policy

With each day breaking another heinous story of sexual predation, it is time we look at for better implementation of laws. One of the most effective ways is to introduce a whistleblower policy. Whistleblower policies provide a conducive environment for people to speak out against any wrongdoing with adequate protection to the whistleblower. Even as companies increasingly punish wrongdoers, our primary focus has to shift to prevention. That work rests not with victims or governments, but with the community. It has been six years since the POSH law was passed still many organizations do not an Internal Complaints Committee. Won’t it lead to better implementation if the employees could raise red flags and tell the government that despite being a law there is no ICC for their company? 

Let’s change the narrative

We cannot and must not encourage a situation where 50 percent of the population still lives in fear and does not have the same privileges as their male counterparts. Holding up a mirror to ourselves can be a painful exercise; it is safer to vent against the government of the day, the paucity of law enforcement personnel and unutilized budget allocations for women’s safety programs but what are we doing for making spaces safer around us? 

We can never achieve something if we don’t participate and vouch for it actively ourselves. It becomes important for each one of us to understand the idea of safety and security around us and learn how to navigate spaces better, at the same time understand, irrespective of your gender, how to make spaces safer for women as a society. Come join us, let’s create safe spaces for women. Let’s join in together to map out unsafe zones in Delhi-NCR, understand the different types of spaces we are a part of and what role each one of us can play to ensure the safety of women.