Ensuring women's safety in India's capital

Cities in India have become extremely unsafe for women. To create safer public spaces for women and to sensitise people, the Delhi Government launched the ‘Safe Delhi Campaign’, in association with UNIFEM, UN Habitat and Jagori in New Delhi yesterday.

New Delhi: In a bid to check the increasing tide of violence against women and girls in public places and address the lack of safety and security for women in the city, the Department of Women and Child Development, Delhi Government launched its ‘Safe Delhi for Women Initiative’ in collaboration with UNIFEM, Jagori and UN Habitat, at the Central Park, New Delhi yesterday.

Suneeta Dhar, Kalpana Vishwanath, Dr. Kiran Walia, Anne Stenhammer and guests on the dais/ Photo credit: Sanjay Kumar/ OWSA

Through the campaign, the Delhi government aims to work towards creating a city that is safe and accessible to women and other vulnerable groups. The stakeholders involved include the police, urban planners, service providers, transport authorities, community groups like resident welfare groups, and NGO’s.
Speaking about the actions planned by the Delhi government, Minister for Women and Child Development and Health and Family Welfare Dr Kiran Walia said: “We are taking a number of steps. We plan to set up CCTV cameras in buses. This is one place where women feel very unsafe, as a lot of eve teasing happens there. Similarly, parks and bus stops have to be well lit. And also it is very important to change the mindset of people.”
This initiative would also work with the Delhi Police to develop preventive measures and a quick and efficient response to the reported cases. Urban planning and design would have to incorporate gender as an element while designing more inclusive cities, said Rajiv Kale, Director, Department of Women and Child Development.
Consultations would be held with stakeholders in order to ensure the safety of women outside their homes, he said.
Through the Bhagidari programme, the involvement of Resident Welfare Associations and Market Trader Associations would be sought to address women’s safety in their areas, he added.

Working towards women's safety in Delhi/ Photo credit: Kushal Saini/ OWSA

The Gender Resource Centers (GRCs) of the Mission Convergence Programme, which already addresses women’s empowerment issues, will work with both boys and girls, in schools and in community-based groups, on issues of equality, respect and empowerment because these are essential if a city is to be safe for its women and girls, reads the press statement released by Jagori.
Anne Stenhammer, Regional Director, UNIFEM said: “We hope that together, we will be able to demonstrate a model to the rest of India and South Asia.”
UNIFEM and UN Habitat that have supported similar initiatives in other cities will provide technical support to the process for a long-standing problem in the capital city in a strategic and holistic manner.