public transport, private parts

January 24, 2008

“Groping and verbal harassment is an exasperating reality for women using public transportation in this sprawling capital...” Are you thinking of where you live?

Brazil, Japan and other countries have established women-only transport to counter the problem. Now, Mexico City has added women-only buses.

How much of a problem is such harassment? The number of places that are turning to women-only solutions gives us a clue:

• Tehran introducing all-women transportation
• Female only trains for SA
• Women-only subway cars coming to South Korea in 2008
• Japan Tries Women-Only Train Cars to Stop Groping
• Cairo Journal; For Women Only: A Train Car Safe From Men

According to the second link above – a story written in 2002 – “statistics show a female born in South Africa is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read.”

Around the world, this is a story about adequate funding for public transportation, overcrowding and the culture it breeds, violence against women, poverty, and why government funding decisions directly affect women and other marginalized groups.

This is not a cute, funny story about pinched bums, putting on makeup, and nice men having to hide behind books.

source and inspiration

Mexico City Rolls Out Women-Only Buses, by OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press, Google | January 24, 2008