Claiming public space: All our cities need to be made over for women

Why do women  feel more comfortable in some cities  than others? Recently, an actress kicked off controversy claiming she felt unsafe in Mumbai, only to have other women counter that it felt far safer than many cities in the north, notably Delhi.

Safety rankings are affected by many things, including reporting rates. While  one place may see more violent crime, another may have cultural hostility towards women’s freedom. While Mumbai is only somewhere in the middle when cities are ranked by safety, both crime statistics and anecdotes bear out the fact that women can move about the city with greater ease in a Bengaluru, Pune, Ahmedabad or Mumbai than Delhi or Patna. The sense of other people out and about is reassuring for women – it provides a ‘natural surveillance’. Working women of all classes and ages are visible in its streets and mass transit – though still much less than men.

We live in a man-made world, and women have to actively rebuild urban spaces for their own needs. It’s not just about safety, but also freedom and mobility. It’s important to have street lighting, but also to have access to a public park, an equal number of public toilets, provisions for childcare. Mumbai was recently in the news for having female figures in its traffic lights – a decision that many scorned as mere symbolism, but still an acknowledgement that women belong equally in public space, and their lived experience as citizens is crucial to city planning.