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Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/70-women-feel-unsafe-in-delhi-4877.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 70% women feel unsafe in Delhi | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

70% women feel unsafe in Delhi

If you thought the recent spate of violent crimes against women in the national capital was an aberration, take a look at this. A poll of women in Delhi and Gurgaon has revealed that almost two-thirds feel unsafe in these cities aspiring to be considered world cities. Incidentally, it is in Delhi that a larger proportion of women feel unsafe (70%) compared to Gurgaon's 65%. 

This feeling of being unsafe is not just a matter of perception either. A clear majority of those polled said that they had themselves experienced some incident of eve teasing or harassment. Once again the figure for Delhi (64%) was significantly higher than for Gurgaon (43%). 

And what do the women feel should be done to make these cities safer for them? Not surprisingly , the most often given response was more police, with 48% saying that was the solution. But the authorities might do well to focus on the second most common response as well - improvement in public transport. 

These were among the findings from a poll conducted exclusively for TOI by Synovate, a global market research agency. The survey was conducted among women aged 18 to 45 years and belonging to socio-economic category (SEC) A and B. 

Respondents in Delhi felt buses were the most unsafe mode of transport, taxies a little less so and autorickshaws even safer. In contrast, those from Gurgaon rated autos the most unsafe of these modes of public transport and buses the least unsafe, which may have something to do also with the availability of buses in that city. In both cities, however, the metro was rated as a very safe mode of transport, almost as good as using one's own vehicle. 

In a sad commentary on the state of affairs, over 50% of women in both Delhi and Gurgaon said they would feel unsafe venturing out of their homes alone after 8 pm and roughly one in six in Delhi felt even 7 pm was too late to step out alone. 

While Gurgaon emerges on the whole as a place where women feel less threatened than in Delhi, there is one glaring exception to that rule. When asked whether they feel the need to be accompanied by a male when going out at night, 96% of the respondents in Gurgaon said yes compared to 64% in Delhi. 

The survey also suggests the police, particularly in Delhi, need to do much more to win the confidence of women. Almost half of the respondents in the Capital said they would not feel confident about approaching the police when they feel threatened. The figure for Gurgaon, 37%, was lower. Interestingly, those who said they had faced an unpleasant experience themselves overwhelmingly reported not having gone to the police. Whether this reflected a lack of confidence in the police or the relatively minor nature of the harassment they faced is a moot question. 

One aspect in which Delhi does better than Gurgaon is helping out women facing an unpleasant situation. While 37% in Delhi they had been helped out by someone, the figure for Gurgaon was an even lower 14%. 

On almost all these questions, respondents from SEC B revealed a greater feeling of insecurity than those from SEC A. Whether this reflects a more diffident outlook or more experience of harassment or perhaps a combination of the twos is anybody's guess. As for the difference across ages, it was not necessarily true that the younger women (18-29 ) felt more assured in all aspects, though their overall perception of insecurity was significantly lower than among the relatively older age group of 30-45 years.