GENDER INCLUSION IN PUBLIC SPACES

Though Public spaces are meant for everyone to use regardless of their gender or age, women use public parks and streets lesser than men. In India it is noticed that women tend to limit their participation in public sphere to day time in markets or parks in urban areas. Reported cases of physical and psychological harassment in parks, streets and public transports have raised the levels of fear or vulnerability among them. Studies show that women prefer active public spaces with characteristics of safer perimeter, cleanliness and safety. They perceive lack of proper lighting, deserted roads, absence of street vendors and stores as unsafe situations. Public spaces that ensure comfort, accessibility and safety through features like clean toilets, proper lighting, etc. are preferred by women, elders and children. they enable women, girls, elderly, LGBTQI+ and transgenders to participate in public life.

Gender-based violence in urban areas can be attributed to factors such as poverty, discrimination, exclusion and lack of gender mainstreaming in urban development leading to public spaces and structures not catering to all genders equally. Globally, many countries have achieved milestones towards gender uniformity, however developing countries like India still face women safety as the basic need and issue in gender equality.

Gender equality in public spaces can be achieved by accommodating features that improve women's safety (UNIFEM, 2010). Planning and designing should put special focus on (UCLG, 2016; UNIFEM, 2010):

1. Proper Lighting

2. Visibility

3. Clean Toilets

4. Landscaping

5. Signages

6. Security personnel

7. Access to public transportation

8. Proximity to other public spaces and emergency services

9. Women's participation in decision making

10. Mixed-land use

Photographed by : Kajal Prajapati

What an ‘equitable’ city should have:

Physical Infrastructure

Social Infrastructure

Mobility Infrastructure

Institutional Infrastructure

Gender discrimination in cities and urban towns

Ludhiana is consider as the "most gender-discriminative" city and Kolkata is consider to be "most gender-equitable" city in India according to TOI survey by an NGO.

Can social protection systems, public services, and sustainable infrastructure lead to better lives for the most marginalized members of society ?

Appropriate, adequate and sustainable public services and gender-responsive infrastructure is critical for low-income women and girls. A reliable supply of water and well-designed community water stand pipes will reduce the time women spent in queues and thus positively impact upon women's and girls' time burdens in unpaid care work.

Ideally, public spaces should promote human contact and community involvement and reflect local culture. In reality, women do not feel welcomed in the public spaces. They are expected to access it for a few socially acceptable reasons such as education and employment. Even in cosmopolitan cities of India, women in public spaces are believed to be a rarity and as a result, they have very limited access to the public domain. they are viewed as mere commuters who travel from their home to the desired destination.