Can the public spaces in the city be made women-friendly through better policing and better toilets? What do women use public spaces for? To discuss these questions and more, women from various parts of the country, and outside, came together at the workshop titled ‘To promote safety of women on streets and public transport’ organised by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) in collaboration with The Prajnya Trust on Saturday.

The women also brought out a number of interesting facts, one being that tall fences and narrow alleys in parks are designed to keep off women. Women tend to prefer open spaces where people can see them. “Restricting spaces actually reduces safety,” says Shilpa. Women tend to prefer spaces with mixed crowd and residential areas, rather than demarcated places like business sites.

Shiamala Baby of NGO Forword pointed out that everything, from encroaching of footpaths by two wheelers to the presence of alcohol outlets on streets are safety hazards for women.

Women driving cars and riding bikes find themselves intimidated by loud honks, overtaking and threats from other travellers. Those walking on road have to bear with eve-teasing and vulgar messages addressed to them by strangers. A few even pointed out that using public space is often about repeatedly asserting that ‘you are not a sex worker’.

Shilpa Ranade, author of Why Loiter? Women and risk on Mumbai streets took this assertion a step further by pointing out that for women, her safety is often linked with proving that she is not a sex worker as that will affect her ability to get help in a public space. “Women cannot loiter on the streets like men. They need to have a purpose for being there and they have to constantly prove this purpose,” she said.

She added that public spaces are designed keeping a generic individual in mind, who is an upper-class, upper-caste Hindu, and an able-bodied male. The rest of the population has to fit into this infrastructure.

Caroline Samparno, senior director with New York city-based Transportation Alternatives, pointed out how the proportion of women using bikes rapidly increased with better bicycling facilities. Social audits, taking designing to the streets for women’s participation were some of the suggestions put forward at the event.

Kalapana Vishwanath of Jagori, a Delhi-based organisation to help women, pointed how safety audits can now be conducted using mobile applications, wherein every women can assess the city through her own perception.