Sexual harassment on public transport: a survey study of Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine prevalence of sexual harassment, its nature, and its consequences on women during traveling on public transport. A survey research method was used to collect the information. A sample of 105 women using the purposive sampling technique was selected from three different bus stops in Rawalpindi city of Pakistan. Routine Activity Theory of Cohen and Felson (1979) was applied to analyse data about the victimization of women passengers. The findings revealed that women participated in the study, 41% were students, 34% were working women and 25% were housewives. 75% of women travelled on a daily basis while the rest once a week or occasionally. The women faced different forms of harassment and 46% of them faced it sometimes while 36% faced it most of the time during traveling. The findings revealed types of offenders and among them, 64% were passengers, 24% were bus helpers and 12% were drivers. 89% participants considered it a serious matter and 52% of women took action in some way from verbal retaliation, informing the family members, to physical retaliation. It is recommended to develop a mechanism to implement the existing laws to make travelling safe for women.