World Is Her Stage

Context: The new normal after the pandemic provides an opportunity to solve the problems faced by women.

Problems faced by women: even before the pandemic.

• Lack of access to public spaces: According to the India Human Development Survey of 2012 (IHDS) data,
  • 18 % of women respondents do not go to a kirana shop,
  • Only 11 % of rural women had ever attended a gram sabha.
• They had to practice a different form of mask-wearing: i.e. wearing of ghunghat or purdah (Around 60% of women practised it)
• They faced Isolation: Due to low mobility and dependence on others for their travelling.
  • E.g. According to IHDS 2012 data, about a quarter of women, respondents were unable to visit their natal families more than once a year, and only half of them felt able to travel alone.
• Sexual harassment: Negative societal consequences due to the fear of sexual harassment -
  • Women are less likely to work or study away from home: E.g. According to IHDS data, women are less likely to work away from home in areas where perceived sexual harassment of girls is higher.
  • Safety concerns not limited to metro cities: A study carried out by the Non-Government Organisation (NGO) Safetipin in Bhopal, Gwalior and Jodhpur found that -
    • 95% of women feel unsafe using public transport,
    • 89% feel unsafe in the marketplace,
    • 84% feel unsafe waiting for public transport,
    • 76% feel unsafe on roads or footpath.

Way forward: To make room for women in the new normal after the pandemic

• Enhance women’s feeling of safety and ensure their full participation in public life:
  • By improving lighting around roads, buses, and train stations; hiring women drivers and bus conductors; expanding spaces allocated to women vendors in markets.
  • Collaboration with society: creating an environment would not benefit women alone
    • For E.g. Synergy between the women’s and the nationalist movement helped to achieve independence and created an obligation for Independent India to deliver gender justice.
• Provide opportunities for women to participate in creating public goods: Through special programmes designed for women or structuring existing programmes for their enhanced participation.
  • E.g. Programs like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).