Why Loiter: Women In Public Spaces Are A Threat To Men Everywhere

Growing up in Mumbai was not easy for a young girl. The city’s streets were crowded with men, always men, walking headlong into you as if you didn’t exist.

Last week I did a quick little survey with a bunch of my female friends. Have you ever crossed by a man on the road or footpath and had him make way for you, I asked them. No, the answers came after some thought and unequivocally.

Most of these ladies were raised in Mumbai or New Delhi, and born to families that could well-afford cars and nannies. I say this because my conservative family almost never let me out alone, I was always accompanied by a nanny and a chauffeur. But there are some spaces that one would need to walk to: the neighbourhood friend’s house, the bazaar, a nearby park or library, or even inside a mall. The story was the same all over.

Women in public spaces

Women are walked into as if they don’t exist. But of course, they are seen, because our bottoms and breasts are routinely pinched, almost as if it's a punishment for being out in public.

We were told we must avoid walking on the streets. And we did. Because we could.

Mumbai remains one of the safer cities in India for women. It has a larger population of working girls, and reasonably better public transport than other cities. Its famous black-and-yellow taxis, colloquially called the kaali-peeli, can be hauled at any time of the day or night by a woman travelling alone, and are almost always safe.

But not always. I had to give up computer classes just one block away as a teenager because I was being followed home by peons and courier boys. Once as an adult, I had a motorcyclist knock on my car window at a signal. I thought he wanted directions, but he politely asked me if I could unbutton my shirt. Yes, nowhere are we always safe.

I was once accompanying my 12-year-old son to Indore a few years back, and hailed an auto to take us someplace at around 5 pm, only to panic upon realising that we were being followed by three men on a motorcycle.

The stories are endless for all of us, and I am reminded by the brilliant feminist journalist Namita Bhandare who recently wrote that a girl’s best companion on the streets is actually the humble safety pin. It served to poke the bottom pinchers.

Women in public spaces seem to pose a ">threat to men everywhere. It’s almost as if they have marked their territory, like dogs who piss in familiar spots, and won’t let anyone trespass. But sleazebags and sexual assaults are only one part of the problem that women face when out of the house. The ‘structural violence’ women face while stepping out is almost as if the entire city would prefer them to stay at home.

Taking public transport as a woman is not easy. If you can afford a taxi, good for you. But ever tried squeezing into a bus? There are 12 seats out of 54 kept aside for women in BEST buses in ‘working-girl-haven’ Mumbai (they were six until 2016). You will still have to wade through a sardine can of sweaty, voyeuristic and bottom-pinching men to get to them. If there are more than 12 women in a bus, please feel free to hang out with the men.

There are three ladies’ compartments in a Mumbai local, of which one is for First Class passengers only. The others are for general use, where women are also permitted to use if they prefer to. The second-class compartments are full at any time of the day, especially for long-haul trains. To aid working women, the railways have allowed for a Ladies Special train that is only for women running both ways once a day during rush hour. Yes, this is also always full.

Public toilets are too few and far between in India. You may have to wait 5 minutes to an hour to avail of a toilet in any of India’s metros. The smaller cities are worse. Men relieving themselves on public walls is a rather common sight, but I’ve never seen a woman do her business in public (with the exception of a train track).

Highways are slightly more gender-neutral, as both men and women find comfort in going behind a bush. This is certainly better for the woman’s personal hygiene than using that public toilet she may finally find.

Nursing a baby? You’ll have to do it in public, this is why Indian dress styles are superior, the pallu or dupatta have you covered.

I am still discussing women who go out because they have to earn their bread. But what if women just want to hang around the streets? Have you ever heard of ‘loitering women’? Yes we exist, and we must be encouraged so we can reclaim our public spaces as equal citizens.

When the Delhi government made public transport free for women, feminists saw it as a huge step toward encouraging women to step out of their homes, even if not for economic pursuits. #IWillGoOut and #WhyLoiter became online campaigns that encouraged women to enjoy their cities.

In 1908, the pioneering Bengali feminist author Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain wrote of an entire kingdom of safe spaces for her heroine Sultana in ‘Sultana’s Dream’, published in The Indian Ladies’ Magazine at the time. Sultana, the flaneuse, walked through Ladyland uninterrupted, all the men of the city were put in a ‘mardana’, the men’s rooms.

Rokeya’s sci-fi tale is a utopian fantasy even today.

Views expressed by the author are their own

Suggested Reading: What Impacts Women’s Mobility In Public Spaces And How To Improve It