10 hours ago
Towards a safer city for women
A public toilet with hooks behind the door or a closet for women's handbags, and street lights pointed at the footpaths instead of being fixed on dividers, are just some of the designs presented by the Gender and Policy Lab (GPL) of Greater Chennai Corporation in its manual on inclusive infrastructure.
This manual takes into account the safety and other needs of women, as well as those of persons with disabilities.
"Women use public toilets more than men, but there are invariably two men's toilets, including a urinal, as against one for women," says Vaishnavi Chidambaranathan, Policy Expert at GPL. "In the case of bus shelters, good lighting is crucial. The empty lots behind bus shelters shouldn't be dead spaces so that they remain safe for everyone."
As for parks, women mostly come with their children and hence look for play equipment, she says.
"Open gyms in parks should also take into account women's specific needs."
The project will span parks, beaches, streets, public shelters, open and closed markets, urban delivery centres, subways, foot overbridges, spaces under flyovers, and transit hubs. The keywords are safety, comfort, and accessibility. Once these components are integrated, women will automatically start using public spaces more, which will lead to better safety overall, says Vaishnavi.
"That would be the ideal outcome.
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Research shows 80% of women rate Chennai as a safe city, and hence it is ahead in terms of mobility and affordability for women. "But there are several areas where we can do better," says Vaishnavi. "We are not trying to get women out of their homes; we are trying to make their experiences in public spaces better."
The inclusive recommendations are already being integrated into new bus shelters, parks, and footpath designs, and are also being used to improve existing infrastructure.
Recently, 250 engineers from 15 zones of the GCC were provided with training on embedding inclusive design principles into everyday infrastructure.
As part of the launch of the manual, a photography exhibition, Aval Idam, is on at the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS Park in Chennai. The photographs, the outcome of an open submission call, depict women occupying public spaces for leisure, commute, work, and more. "About 21 artists have captured the way women navigate, engage with, and shape Chennai's public spaces," says Gayatri Nair, Founder of Kala Collective, which has collaborated with the GPL for the project.
The exhibition is on until June 15.
