Despite the considerable initiatives taken by the Punjab government to provide women with safe and secure work and travel opportunities, harassment continues to be an every day ordeal. Some completely give up their education or employment due to harassment.
Harassment on public transportation takes numerous forms from verbal to physical abuse. Yet most women choose to remain silent and not report the abuse. This means that even 82 per cent understates the number of women who face harassment. Their silence is often because of the social stigma surrounding harassment in our country, and also because when reported the police does little to help arrest the accused.
While such a survey may help the Punjab government in deriving effective plans in making travel safe for women to some extent, the problem to the solution lies in having clearly legislated laws covering varying forms of harassment at not just the workplaces but in all those social realms wherever equal participation of men and women is an objective to be sought. More importantly, campaigns to help eradicate the stigma attached to complaining abuse must be held. Every woman should feel safe in reporting abuse to the police than feel further victimised at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect her.
While women should be encouraged to take action against their harassers it is equally important to educate men to not harass. Public transport remains the choice of many women and it is important to make it safe for them to travel.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2017.
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