No short dresses, Indian minister advises women tourists

The minister's comments have been widely rapped

Foreign women travelling to India should not wear short dresses or skirts and should not walk alone at night “for their own safety”, Indian Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma has said.

“For their own safety, women foreign tourists should not wear short dresses and skirts, Mahesh Sharma remarked while speaking to Indian media on Sunday in Agra. “Indian culture is different from the western,” he said.



With a high incidence of rape in the country, Sharma advised women to take photos of the number plate of any vehicle they travelled in. Since last year, India has been giving out welcome kits to foreign tourists arriving in India with safety guidelines for women. “In that kit they are given dos and don’ts. These are very small things like, they should not venture out alone at night in small places, or wear skirts, and they should click the photo of the vehicle number plate whenever they travel and send it to friends,” Sharma said.

But after being criticised in India and abroad, Sharma on Monday backtracked on his suggestion saying, “We have not given any specific instructions regarding what they should wear or not wear. We are asking them to take precaution while going out at night.” He continued, “I am a father of two daughters...I would never tell women what they should wear or not.”



Speaking to The Guardian, Ranjana Kumari, the director of gender equality think-tank the Centre for Social Research, said, “It was very stupid, not a fully thought-through statement. The minister doesn’t realise the implications of such irresponsible statements.”

She said that his remarks were part of “the syndrome of blaming women,” adding that “The problem is men and boys in India. It is important for [Sharma] to have said how to punish the perpetrators of crime and stop the nonsense of ogling women and following them.”

Mr Sharma’s comments were described as being “loaded with misogyny” and “a blatant admission that the Indian state is incapable of ensuring safety and security of women” by Sreemoy Talukdar of FirstPost.



The number of foreign tourists visiting India increased by 10 per cent last year, but the proportion of women coming to the country slipped to 40.8 per cent of all visitors, from 41.2 per cent the year before. Sharma also courted controversy last year after he said, “Girls wanting a night out may be all right elsewhere, but it is not part of Indian culture.”

Many took to Twitter to criticize the minister's comments:

Dear foreigners.... Sorry to tell u that Indian government holds women responsible for being eve-teased or raped.Kindly adjust!#MaheshSharma

— Pooja Mishra (@poojatweeter) August 29, 2016

#MaheshSharma you just confirmed in the most ridiculous way .. that this country is not safe for foreign tourists. #skirt #irony

— Dee (@dipka06) August 29, 2016

Sir please give us bad women a lecture on Indian Culture.We are getting outta control N need to be harnessed! #NOT #MaheshSharma #Feminism

— 𝕓𝕦𝕞𝕓𝕒𝕚 𝕜𝕚 𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕚 (@sapnabhavnani) August 29, 2016

I've never seen a female tourist wearin skirt in any religious places.So #MaheshSharma can keep dat justification to himself. #BJPsoसंस्कारी

— Vinay Kumar Dokania (@VinayDokania) August 29, 2016

Skirts of foreign women may be confiscated at airport as per Tourism Minister #MaheshSharma,for their own safety as skirts are cause of rape

— Dr Garekar (@DrGarekar) August 29, 2016

You are perfectly fine with nude monks in Vidhan Dabha but foreign women travellers in skirts is a cause of concern #MaheshSharma #Misogyny

— Riya Mukherjee ریا مکھرجی (@riyalovezu) August 29, 2016

This article originally appeared on The Independent.