Gender diversity on streets must for women’s safety

Findings of the safety audits recommends increased security in winter

pujab

Puja Bhattacharjee | December 22, 2014




Despite all claims and administrative measure, safety on Delhi street is far from satisfactory.

A women safety audit has found that that gender diversity on the streets has the highest impact on the feeling of safety and comfort in being out and it outranks other factors like visible security, lighting and visibility.

Two years after the brutal gangrape of a 23 year student on a moving bus in Delhi and days after the rape in an Uber cab, representatives from 54 civil society organisations including Jagori, Safetipin, CFAR, Lawyers Collective, AIPWA, Women's Feature Service, Sakha Cabs, and several eminent women like the former additional solicitor general, Indira Jaising, supreme court advocate Vrinda Grover Kavita Krishnan, Annie Raja and Pamela Philipose conducted safety audits on approximately 60 kilometres of Delhi roads.

Data on the gaps that exist in public infrastructure, social usage of public space, public transport and policing were recorded using the mobile application Safetipin.

Visibility was found to be low in all the areas audited. The report says ‘this means that there aren't enough eyes on the street - no presence of vendors, shops/doors/houses facing the street. This is a serious issue of urban design where we see high walls coming up all over the city and natural surveillance being reduced.’

The Munirka bus stop to Mahipalpur Munirka route ranked the highest on security both in terms of police at specific locations and patrolling on motorbike. But all over visible security is quite low.

Based on the findings it has been recommended that gender sensitive options for improving last mile connectivity needs to be explored, increase in the number of women drivers working in public transportation and security measures need to be scaled up in winter with more vigilant police on the beat among others.

Nearly 150 safety audit visits were conducted on December 16, 2014 between 7.30 pm and 11 pm. The audit measured eight parameters - lighting, openness, visibility, crowd, gender diversity, security, walk path and nearness to public transport.

Each group covered a designated route using three modes of transport and also walked parts of the route. In addition to this, each audit also asks the auditor to rate whether they feel safe or not in a public place. Each audit then appears as a pin on the Safetipin map which is then visible to anyone else who looks at the app. The group audited routes in North, South, East and West Delhi.

The entire report can be accessed at http://jagori.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Report-on-Safey-Audits_Dec-16FINAL.pdf

Comments

 

Other News

How Rafi, Raj Kapoor helped pave the way for a great uranium deal

There`s a certain moment in diplomacy that`s too personal to be captured in a communiqué, too small to make the front page, but more revealing than the front page. This week, prime minister Narendra Modi reached Tashkent and, amid the pomp of state visits, managed to evoke the old Bollywood tunes

Distinguishing Fish 1 and Fish 2: The pragmatism behind India’s WTO ratification

 India became the 123rd WTO member to ratify the multilateral Agreement on Fisheries subsidies (AoFS) when it deposited the Instrument of Acceptance for Phase 1 on July 20, 2026. The ratification is restricted to disciplining Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU), protection for overfished

The 7% growth problem: Why the next 7% will be harder

India has become accustomed to hearing the 7% growth number. It is now less a milestone than an expectation. Yet the paradox is becoming clearer: maintaining 7% growth may be considerably harder than achieving it once. India’s real GDP grew 7.7% in FY2025–26, following growth of 6.5% in FY202

The Constitution cannot be altered: Justice Abhay Oka

Justice Abhay Oka, who retired from the Supreme Court in May 2025, has said that the Constitution of India cannot be altered. Explaining the landmark Kesavananda Bharati judgment (1973) on the basic structure of the Constitution, he said, “This is one judgment that has saved democracy in India.&rdq

How the flora and fauna evolved in the Indian subcontinent

Mammals of India  By A.J.T. Johnsingh and P.O. Nameer HarperCollins India in association with Bombay Natural History Society  

India`s renewable race is moving beyond megawatts

When Shell bought Sprng Energy in 2022, India`s renewable energy market appeared to offer precisely what global energy majors were seeking: scale, growth and a place in one of the world`s largest energy transitions. Four years later, Shell is selling the same business to Aditya Birla Group for an enterpris

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter