Palwal: As the morning commuter train rattled down the track, Chinu Sharma, an office worker, enjoyed the absence of men. Some of them pinch and grope women on trains, or shout insults and catcalls, she said. Her friend Vandana Rohile agreed and widened her eyes in mock imitation.
“Sometimes they just stare at you,” said Rohile, 27.
Safe ride: Women aboard the Ladies Special train connecting Palwal to New Delhi. In a pilot project, the government has introduced these trains in the wake of eve teasing that women face while commuting to work. Chiara Goia/The New York Times
Up and down the jostling train, women repeated the same theme: As millions of women have poured into the Indian workforce over the last decade, they have met with different obstacles in a tradition-bound, patriarchal culture, but few are more annoying than the basic task of getting to work.
The problems of taunting and harassment, known as eve teasing, are so persistent that in recent months the government has decided to simply remove men altogether. In a pilot programme, eight new commuter trains exclusively for women passengers have been introduced in the four largest cities, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
The trains are known as Ladies Specials, and on one recent round trip in which a male reporter got permission to board, the women commuting between the industrial town of Palwal and New Delhi were very pleased.
“It’s so nice here,” said a teacher, Kiran Khas, who has commuted by train for 17 years. Khas said the regular trains were crowded with vegetable sellers, pickpockets, beggars and lots of men. “Here on this train,” she said, as if describing a miracle, “you can board anywhere and sit freely.”
India would seem to be a country where women have shattered the glass ceiling. The country’s most powerful politician, Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party, is a woman. The country’s current president, a somewhat ceremonial position, is a woman. So are the foreign secretary and the chief minister of the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. India’s Constitution guarantees equal rights for women, while Indian law stipulates equal pay for work and punishment for sexual harassment.
But the reality is very different for the average working woman, many analysts say.
Since the country began economic reforms in the early 1990s, women have entered the urban workforce, initially as government office workers, but now increasingly as employees in the booming services sector or in professional jobs. Over all, the number of working women has roughly doubled in 15 years.
But violence against women has also increased, according to national statistics. Between 2003 and 2007, rape cases rose by nearly 30%, kidnapping or abduction cases rose by nearly 50%, while torture and molestation also jumped sharply.