Safe and
Inclusive City
What does a woman, a girl or a trans expect from a city?
- Most women would like to walk the streets without fear of harassment or violence
- Most women want to travel in public buses and trains without hesitation
- Most women want to live, work and enjoy the city
Click on the bus, train, streets or municipality for information on our program.
One aspect of living a productive and happy life is not having to look over one's shoulder, hear scary steps behind you, ignore lewd comments, or be groped but to live without the fear of any form of violence. Limited mobility means fewer choices of employment, education and leisure. Our strategy for this program is to address this crucial issue in multiple ways.
According to Akshara's survey, 95% women had faced sexual harassment within a span of a year in Mumbai. The sites of harassment were mainly public buses, trains and streets.
Bus
Two million women crisscross the city every day as they go to work, shop, drop children to school and do other tasks. 49% of them said they had been sexually harassed in buses. This data launched one of Akshara's ongoing campaigns. Akshara has undertaken gender sensitisation workshops with a majority of BEST's 22,000 bus conductors and drivers. The management also changed the staff's Rule Book or rules and regulations book to facilitate their intervention. The Twarita Mohim Campaign put up huge posters on harassment in 26 bus depots and facilitated the distribution of Rule Books.
In 2023-24, Akshara released the #JagahDikhao Campaign for inter city buses. The video Jagah Dikhao has over 9.5 million views. It won the Mommy Awards, the Indian Digital Marketing Award, and the CFBP Women's Safety and Empowerment Award.
Its ground level campaign with MSRTC and local organisations engaged around 8,400 commuters across 15 bus stops in 6 cities in Maharashtra. To understand commuters' problems nearly 2,000 survey responses and 40 in-depth interviews were conducted. The campaign continues …
Train
The fast and inexpensive local trains are the lifeline of Mumbai city. Each train has two compartments reserved for women. However, women have to endure sexual harassment on crowded approach roads, station platforms and foot-over-bridges as well as general compartments. To address these issues, Akshara did a survey (Railway Safety Audit Report) to gather data on safety of women. This was followed with gender sensitisation trainings with 398 personnel of Railway Protection Force from various cadres like the Helpline unit, Special Protection Force, the Mahila Vahini, 90 constables and officers, and a group of women train marshals of the Railway Police.
The latest campaign video Laal Jhandi Dikhao urges train commuters to actively engage with harassers by giving them a little red flag as signs of dangerous behaviour.
Akshara also mobilised students who performed street plays and participated in a campaign called Main Hoon Na which urged commuters to support women against sexual harassment. 1000 commuters were reached, about 486 of them pledged to be active bystanders and 100 pinned messages of support.
City Streets
How can city streets be made safe for women? Crowded streets are some of the best places for the anonymous sexual harasser. We try to locate such areas through Safety Walks and Audits. A video shows the urgency of these walks.
Walkers are also able to identify ways of prevention. Our Manual gives all the details for conducting a Safety Walk.
Subways are underground walk-ways which take people across roads without having to wait for cars and signals. But women have not been using them. In partnership with Architect Associates, a comprehensive survey of 14 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation subways was conducted (Subway Guideline) which was submitted to the BMC.
Over the years, Akshara has teamed up with partners like colleges and organisations like MAVIM, FICCI FLO, and Safetipin for conducting 6109 Safety Walks which have resulted in the municipal authorities putting in street lights or other infrastructures and organising police patrolling.
Municipality
For a city to be made safe for women, the Municipality has to be proactive, and be involved in making and executing plans. Akshara saw this opportunity and joined other citizens in raising their voices during a consultation on the Development Plan of Mumbai [2014]. After years of discussions and persistence, it has been able to, not only add a whole chapter on Gender into the Plan, but allocate land for Multi-Purpose Houses across the city.
In collaboration with BMC and TISS, Akshara has contributed to the 'Framework for Inclusion of Gender Amenities in Development Plans,' available in English and Marathi , and a report on Mahila Udhyam Kendra (Livelihood Centres for Women), providing actionable insights for gender-sensitive urban planning. These resources are shaping policies across the state and inspiring cities nationwide to adopt similar strategies.