Bangalore for women: What we want?

On weekend I attended a bloggers meet organized by Indiblogger and Times of India. Times of India is driving this initiative “Bangalore for women” from quite some time which I have seen in newspaper. Now they decided to pool-in bloggers too, to give larger online impact to this drive. In the meet we had open discussion about the problems faced by women in the city. There were many issues shared, and some personal experience from fellow bloggers which were terrifying. I and many other blogger like me were in state of shock when we came to know that after Delhi, Bangalore is the second unsafe city for women in India. I always thought that we are living in a calm and safe city but that information was like a wake up call for me.

Bangalore being the IT hub of India sees lots of people coming here for work and higher study every year. I was not born in Bangalore, but I am living here from last 6.5 years. This city has given me my work and identity, this city is more like a home to me now. And same is the case with many others too. Bangalore is the city which has the most women workforce in technology industry in India. In the meet we have discussed a lot about the problems faced by women in the city and other issues. So here I want to talk about some solution and initiatives I believe will make a women’s life easier and safer in the city.

Prepaid Auto stand near techparks: Commutation is a big concern for women working late in office. Atuo’s charge more at night and they are not very safe either. But at those odd hours we have no other option but to pay them what they want and pray for reaching home safe. Having a prepaid auto stand with a constable on duty will save us from arguments on auto-fair and will give a feeling of getting watched to the Auto drivers( their vehicle number and passenger’s phone number should be included in the receipt) . This in turn will make late night commutation safer for women.

Working Helpline number: When caught in ugly situations, we really don’t know whom to contact. We mostly end up calling your relatives or friends who may not be the able to really help us in such situations. Having a functional helpline number (which is quick and efficient) will be very handy. With that at least we will know that in times of danger whom to contact.

Women Auto/Bus/Cab driver: Having women drivers will bring a sense of safety. We can expect them to be empathic to other women and the trust factor will increases. Late night cabs provided by corporate feels unsafe at times due to the incidents happened in past, having women drivers and women security guards will surly help.

Corporate Anti-Harassment cell: There are possibilities of mental and physical harassment in the work place too. Most of the women do not feel comfortable sharing this with their male bosses and keep quite. Having an Anti-Harassment committee at work place will help the victims come out. The committee can have some senior women employees who are easy to approach. There are all guidelines given for such cells in corporates but many small industries or offices do not follow it. This should be made compulsory and employees should be motivated to come forward and voice against such harassment.

Self-Defense Education in techparks/ colleges/ schools: With all the securities and facilities around still we cannot be safe always. As self-help is the best help, self-defense is the best form of safety every women can have. We all know this but tend to push it at back of our minds due to other deadlines and works, and think of it only when we are in ugly situations. Conducting Self-defense sessions in techparks, colleges and schools will make sure all the women make the most out of it without sacrificing other commitments. Corporates and education institutions have to pay attention towards this.

There are so many other problems too which women in our city face. But I feel safety of the women inside and outside home is most important. Working woman is considered independent, but until she is living in fear she is not completely independent. If women are not safe, they cannot explore their abilities to the fullest. We live in the technology hub of India, there are hundreds of MNCs here,  if here women are not safe then what a shameful picture of our nation we are showing to this world. Every morning when I get up and leave for work I should feel motivated about my work and not worried about my safety. Let’s work towards making this city the safest city for women in India. Safe Bangalore is the Bangalore we all want for us, Safe Bangalore is the Bangalore for women.

Education is the key to success

Every day when I travel to work I see lots of construction work going on in the city. Labors who work there stay at the construction site itself in small tents or in some temporary accommodation made there. They cook on sides of road while their small kids play in mud with stones. They work under hot sun, in middle of all the dust and noise for 10-12 hours every day, whereas I am comfortably working in AC and making 3-4 times more than them every day. We both are working hard, but still there is a difference. And when I think about the cause of this difference, answer is very clear. It is Education which is making all the difference here. I feel extremely lucky that I was born in a family where the importance of education was known. I feel fortunate to get better education which gave me a better lifestyle.

In lower middle class and poor families mostly education is considered as financial burden. They feel if the kid works in place of going to school that will help the family financially. They only think of the immediate needs, and do not understand the power of education in long term. That is why they don’t send their kids to school, instead ask them to work. Sometimes if they are interested in their kid’s education still they are not able to provide them good education due to financial issues. There are thousands of government run schools which are meant to give free basic education to all the kids, but most of them are not running the way they are supposed to. Teachers are not coming to take classes; there are no books or stationary provided. Government has done their job half by opening schools but making sure that they run properly and families are motivated to send kids to school is yet to be done.  

There are some schemes run by center and state governments to motivate people to send their kids to schools. There are many scholarships and other arrangements to motivate good students, but many times this information is not passed properly till the grass root level. However we cannot leave all the responsibility on government and just sit and crib about problems. Being the fortunate one it is our duty and responsibility to create awareness for education. We can start it from our home by motivating our house help to send his/her kids to school. We can help them financially or can get them introduced to some NGO which will help them and guild them throughout.

Education makes one independent and independence brings freedom and equality. For better future of our country Education is the area we all have to work on. Education is the key to success for individual and for the nation.

PS: I also strongly advocate girl child’s education. It is very important and is the first step towards the women empowerment we keep talking about.

PSS: This post is written for the “ISB iDiya Blogging Contest” on Indiblogger.

image courtesy Google