New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) Safety and social audits of cities and institutions, gender sensitisation at schools, colleges and workplaces, and media guidelines for reporting crimes against women are among a slew of suggestions that came out of a national symposium on women’s safety at work and public spaces, officials said on Monday.
Organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) at the India Habitat Centre here, the symposium comes amid the prolonged protests being held in Kolkata over the alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
It concluded on Monday with several suggestions on how to improve women’s safety.
NHRC’s acting chairperson Vijaya Bharathi Sayani, chairing the event said there have been a lot of efforts in terms of the legal provisions and policies for women empowerment in the country.
“However, they continue to face barriers both at the workplace and in public spaces which need to be addressed with a holistic approach,” she was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NHRC.
She said incidents of violent sexual abuse of women are “not isolated in nature”, and require collective efforts on the part of the society to ensure an effective response.
Sayani stressed strengthening the implementation of existing laws and “holding perpetrators accountable”. This, she indicated, must be done by improving the criminal justice system, sensitising the public, and creating better support mechanisms for survivors, through collaboration between all stakeholders.
Some of the suggestions that emanated during the discussions included carrying out “safety and social audits of cities and institutions” to get a better idea about the lags and issues that currently exist in terms of ensuring women’s safety when they enter the workplace and public spaces.
It said the exercise be preferably conducted in collaboration with professional institutions and organisations.
Some of the other suggestions were — better implementation of laws to make sure that policies translate into tangible outcomes to improve the safety of women both at home, and outside; gender sensitisation at all levels including at schools, colleges, workplaces, top management of all major organisations, as well as in law enforcing systems, and to adopt a preventive approach towards women’s safety with the help of civil society.
“Media in all its manifestations also needs to have guidelines for reporting crimes against women; concentrated efforts need to be made to encourage bystander intervention in reporting crimes; ensuring all workplaces with working and proactive Internal Complaints Committees (ICC) to make women feel safe and comfortable,” were the other suggestions.
As a society, the issue of women’s safety must be seen as a collective responsibility of all. It is imperative to collaborate productively rather than reacting once a major incident has occurred, the symposium suggested.
The Commission will further deliberate upon more such inputs to finalise its recommendations, it said.
The symposium was attended by Meenakshi Negi, Member Secretary, NCW; Rupali Banerjee Singh, Member Secretary, NCPCR; Pritam Yashwant Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development; Chhaya Sharma, Special Commissioner (Training), Delhi Police, among others.
Some of the initiatives discussed during the event included the Nirbhaya Fund, Mission Shakti, the Safe City Project, SHE-Box 2.0, increased surveillance by police through CCTV cameras, lighting of dark spots in the city, gender sensitisation programmes at the school and college level, and other similar programmes.
NHRC Secretary General Bharat Lal spoke about the challenges faced by women, especially those between the ages of 18 and 30 years.
He said more and more women are entering the workforce and public spaces in India. However, several incidents of crimes against them are also happening, he said, adding, as a society, there should be a collective effort to contribute towards the safety and security of women.
Ajay Bhatnagar, Director General, NHRC, spoke about how the violence against women is driven by “unequal power dynamics”.
He stressed the need to “look for equity rather than equality”, to recognise and be sensitive to the needs of women and girls.
Bhatnagar also noted that the media and movies also need to ensure that “incidents like stalking do not get glorified” as these have a direct bearing on the psyche and mentality of the society at large.
He also emphasised the need to involve men and boys at all levels to make society safe for women. PTI KND RHL
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