Ensuring Safety for Women at Public Space: Need and Approaches

Abstract

Safety at public spaces for women means creating public spaces with features that enhance women’s safety and detract from the causes of women’s insecurity and feelings of insecurity. The issue of women’s safety in public spaces is very wide, covering many issues. Although the government/nongovernment and private organizations continue to reinforce and enhance consciousness level on the safety of women, in most cases, it is the only aftermath of the incident of harassment which leads to multiple debates in the society. Such debates and discussions are short-lived, realizing the importance of such cases can get public space and they become more gender-sensitive and potentially discourage harassment. As per the National Crime Records Bureau, India (Crimes in India 2016-Statistics. National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, 2016), nearly 3.38 lakh cases of crime against women were reported across the country; of these over 1.3 lakh were sexual offenses and this does not cover unreported cases. Thus, the significance must be on dispensing women safety issues at an early stage than embracing a responsive way to deal with it. Harassment and abuse of women and girls in public spaces is a rampant yet largely neglected issue. Thus, this chapter focuses on the outlook of preventive, prohibition and redressal view in ensuring the safety of women in the public space.