Women demand concrete steps, not token ‘Night Walk’

Kerala Women and Child Development Department held a ‘Night Walk’ at around 100 locations across the state on December 30.
The Night Walk organised to assert space for women in the streets in Kochi on Sunday night | Arun Angela
The Night Walk organised to assert space for women in the streets in Kochi on Sunday night | Arun Angela

KOCHI: Remembering Nirbhaya who died on December 29, 2012, 13 days after the brutal gang rape in a bus in New Delhi, Kerala Women and Child Development Department held a ‘Night Walk’ at around 100 locations across the state on Sunday. However, women who have to face the daunting task of travelling alone in the night after work have a different take on the exercise. They question holding such events for one day, instead of taking concrete steps to make the streets safe.

“It is good to spread awareness about the problems faced by women with such events. But what needs to be done is to address the root cause,” said Roopa George, entrepreneur. In a patriarchal society which sees women as commodities, just a ‘Night Walk’ won’t address the problem, she said.

“Only by changing the mindset of men will women find relief. Instead of portraying women as weak, parents also need to educate their daughters about their strengths,” she said. “A girl should be made strong enough to stand up to those who try to intimidate her. The system should also be there to support them when needed,” she added.

Airing a similar view, Deepa K R who works at Infopark said, “Whenever a woman faces harassment, she hesitates to take action. The fear of the hassles, and how the police would behave if they go to file a complaint, stop them from taking the next step.” She added that along with creating awareness about the issues being faced by the women, the need of the hour is to bring in a systematic change in the society.
“Women face harassment every day. Be it while travelling on buses or trains or even in public places, not a minute goes by without a woman or girl being molested,” Deepa said. “However, no one comes forward to take action. It is like women have been trained to internalise such incidents,” she said.

“The perception that they will not be heard needs to be changed. For this, the departments concerned need to educate the public,” said Roopa. Meanwhile, Bitty Joseph, chairperson, Ernakulam Child Welfare Committee, said, “The ‘Night walk’ is a positive step. When an event is conducted on such a large scale it is sure to attract a lot of publicity. This will help highlight the issue of women safety.”

Walk first of many
The Night Walk organised on Sunday was a first of the many to be held until March 8 (Women’s Day), said an officer with Women and Child Development Department. “Every district will organise such walks by roping in local self-governing bodies,” the officer said. Other programmes to run parallel to the walks will be planned.

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