In the past few years, several surveys have been conducted among women who use public transport to find out the level of harassment they have to face – and the results are staggering. Result found that 87 percent of women have faced some form of harassment on public transport at least once in their lifetime, the latest survey, which was conducted online from May to June 2022. The survey of more than 5,000 women in 24 regions also revealed that 36 percent of female commuters had faced sexual harassment on buses, speedboats, trains and terminals, and 57 percent felt that public transport was downright dangerous.
Another recent survey by an NGO to understand the psychological impact of such harassment on women and girls found that about half of harassment victims experience mental health problems later in life. These findings are disturbing to say the least and should be given due consideration by our politicians.
Despite these damn inquiries into the safety of women riding public transport, unfortunately, we haven’t seen any action from the authorities to address the situation. This inaction emboldens the harasser, so we could see a further increase in similar incidents in the future. The question is: why are the authorities not giving the issue the attention it deserves? The organisations that conducted the investigation also made recommendations to improve the situation. These include installing CCTV cameras and vehicle tracking systems in all passenger cars, and listing the names of drivers and assistants on each vehicle’s nameplate. These are basic safety measures that can be taken at any time. So what stops them from doing the bare minimum?
Adopting such measures would certainly help in identifying the perpetrators and also deter potential perpetrators from harassing passengers in the future. In addition, increasing the number of women-only buses and creating a system where women can file complaints about harassment on public transport are also critical. Recent surveys show that only 36 percent of women protested when they were harassed, and only 1 percent sought redress from law enforcement officials, reflecting victim stigma and a lack of social or legal support.
However, performing the above steps alone will not solve the problem, for that the source of the problem needs to be addressed. Society’s perception that public transport is a man’s place and that men think their spaces are occupied by women needs to change. This patriarchal mentality has troubling implications in other areas as well. This can only change if our politicians get it right.
