Gender-based spatial segregation: ladies compartments in the Mumbai local trains

Title

Gender-based spatial segregation: ladies compartments in the Mumbai local trains

Creator

Arundhathi

Description

The local trains of Mumbai are one of the most crowded means of public transport, but often preferred by many women due to the provision of exclusive ladies compartments reserved for women. While these compartments provide women a space safe from sexual assault, conflicts due to class and religious differences arise among the women who occupy this in-between space. Moreover, the continuous use of ladies compartments leads to the labelling of general compartment as gents, affects the interactions between men and women in different railway spaces, and also configures the public as already segregated according to a binary understanding of gender. Based on the findings from an ethnographic study of womens experiences of using the ladies compartments, I argue that the provision of segregation gives rise to specific mobility practices in the ladies compartments. The logic of segregation spills over to other railway spaces, and these can complicate our understanding of mobility as empowering for women travellers. 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Source

Gender, Place and Culture, Vol-31, No. 2, pp. 133-153.

Date

2024-01-01

Publisher

Routledge

Subject

gender-based segregation; mobility; Mumbai; public transport; Space; trains

Coverage

Arundhathi, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Christ University, Bangalore, India

Rights

Restricted Access

Relation

ISSN: 0966369X

Format

Online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2115980

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