Reclaiming the road and hitching a ‘pink’ ride this Women’s Day

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/young-restless/reclaiming-the-road-and-hitching-a-pink-ride-this-womens-day Summoning a cab with just the click of a mouse (or a tap on a smartphone) may be a reality of the world we live in. But to think the same about an auto rickshaw seems like a luxury even today, despite the fact that auto rickshaws are far more visible and ubiquitous than cabs in any Indian city. When www.autowale.in began their journey in Pune, it was an unheard of affair. It was this gap that the duo from IIT Kanpur ­— Mukesh Jha and Janardan Prasad — tried to address, way back in 2011. Today, connecting almost 1,000 rickshaw drivers, ferrying almost 10,000 passengers a day within Pune, autowale.in is an exemplum of entrepreneurship with a vision beyond money-making; that of making para-transit an easier, more professional and more convenient affair. This International Women's Day, autowale.in are rebranding themselves as "pink". The hoods of each auto-rickshaw under their banner will be coloured pink to send a strong message about Autowale's commitment towards gender-sensitive transit traffic on roads. Janardan Prasad, the COO and co-founder of Autowale, says, "Women feel safer in auto rickshaws than in cabs. This was a surprising find for us. Much before the unfortunate Delhi Uber case, we found it increasingly persistent to tailor-make our para-transit network to expand it substantially to women travelers — attract more passengers as well as re-instill faith in our already existent customer base. We thought that going pink on Women's Day will be an extremely positive move in this regard." After the Delhi Uber rape case, one realised how unsafe the confines of a cab are. Women learnt, to their horror, through debates in traditional and on social media, that auto rickshaws are much more organised and systematised in terms of maintaining and verifying records of drivers. Police verification of drivers is a very process-oriented activity. The network of cabs, on the other hand, has no such tediousness associated with the registration process. So much so that a cab driver working across cities easily manages to drive in a new city as well, without the hassle of documentation and verification work. It becomes easy to imagine why the process of complaints' redressal is much easier and convenient for auto rickshaws, as compared to cabs. Prasad says, "The Uber incident made us reflect... If we had a robust transit network of auto rickshaws in cities like Delhi, the incident would not happened at all. It is with this thought that we realised that entrepreneurs like us, working on improving transit traffic on roads, need to send a strong and positive signal to our women passengers in making auto rickshaws a preferred mode of transport in cities. This International Women's Day, apart from merely appearing pink, we will also offer free rides to women travellers in our auto rickshaws and carry our awareness campaigns around corporate and residential locations." Delhi roads are currently being transformed by the extremely affordable rides offered by apps such as Ola. But however robust a system one works out with cab service operators, the sheer openness of travelling in auto rickshaws makes the experience relatively safer (there's always the option of jumping out of an auto rickshaw in case of an emergency). So an innovation like www.autowale.in should, in some way, change the state of public transport in the city. While similar applications do exist across cities, Autowale in currently only in Pune. However, following a successful pilot project in Bangalore last year, plans are in place to expand Autowale to 20 cities by the end of the year, spreading to as many as 100 cities by next year. It's worth pondering over: Why do women not claim roads as aggressively as they put their feet forward in claiming office spaces? Why is it that, while we try so hard in creating a feminist discourse around the country, we hypocritically alienate specific professions and spaces as less respectable and less honourable? One of the reasons why crime happens against women on roads is also because there are not enough women drivers and women managers of transit traffic on our roads. Sheela Kamble, one of the first woman auto rickshaw drivers on Indian roads, says, "Women need to realise that working in offices is not the only way to be employed and that this discrimination should end from we think of gender equality and claiming equal treatment. When I drove on roads, I came across so many women and men marvelling at the fact that I chose this profession. But for me, this was just another job. I did not want to make and sell pickles. Why does making that choice make me special?" "It is really empowering that women like Sheela are at the forefront," says Prasad, "trying to propagate a gender-neutral perspective not only from the confines of an elite round-table seminar but from a vantage point where they have worked, experienced and seen it all. Our going pink is also an exercise in venerating such strong women and creating a whole discourse around gender-sensitive and gender-neutral atmosphere on our roads." Kamble adds, "Apps such as these not only help passengers but also auto rickshaw drivers because it becomes easier for drivers to get their problems addressed. The fact that passengers can also cheat and misbehave with drivers is not registered in the public imagination." http://www.sunday-guardian.com/young-restless/reclaiming-the-road-and-hitching-a-pink-ride-this-womens-day

It's my land

http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/its-my-land/article4187452.ece
Women with land rights have better access to health care, are lesser prone to domestic violence, and able to provide better educational, nutritional and health care facilities to their children, reveals a recent survey by UN Women and Landesa in two districts each of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

They also have better access to micro credit, are less vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS and, in effect, have an increased say in decision making in the household, says the report.

The organisations interviewed a total of 504 women in 19 villages (in the districts of Mahabubnagar and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Kishanganj and Siwan in Bihar) to feel the pulse of the land rights situation in India. The report suggests that access of and control over land by women and their feeling of empowerment are inevitably connected variables.

In a stark contrast to general belief, 22 per cent of Hindu families and 50 per cent of Muslim households were aware of the Hindu Succession Act and the Muslim Personal Law, respectively. The dismal awareness about the women’s rights to land is credited to the fact that there is lack of cohesion and association among women in the communities and societies.

The survey found that 12 per cent of the women were aware of other women who held land titles and 15 per cent of them knew women who had inherited land from their parents. Of those surveyed, 92 per cent of women held no land titles and only 19 per cent showed any willingness to own some. Of the ones who did own a stretch of their own, 78 per cent revealed that they had no official documentation regarding land ownership, making the issue of land rights awareness grimmer.

Discussing the reasons behind this scenario, the report maintained that women do not have access to fair legal recourse to demand their land rights, there is little or almost no documentation of land ownership by women and that women are reluctant to interact freely with revenue officials. Of the women interviewed, 40 per cent said that the law did not recognise their access to land. Around 20 per cent of Hindu women and 5 per cent of Muslim women suggested that their religious leaders did not recognise women’s rights to access land. Among village leaders, 60 per cent did not recognise land rights to women. Interestingly, 85 per cent of husbands supported their wives’ claims to land rights.

The report states that 39 per cent of women did not claim their land rights to keep their social reputations intact, 19 per cent of them did not want to deprive their brothers of the share and 73 per cent of the eldest sons and daughters cited fear of changing family dynamics to stay away from women asserting land rights.

“When families have secure rights to land, they can make long term investments and production decisions, are more inclined to protect their natural resource bases, may benefit from housing opportunities, are more likely to access government programs and may engage more fully as citizens,” according to the report, which supports suggestions and recommendations to positively alter and strengthen women’s share over land rights.

The report says that there should be a gender sensitive approach towards issues of land rights. Land allocation and distribution should have a women-centric trajectory. Village leaders should be informed and sensitized by gender-sensitive training to strengthen the policy base at the grassroots level. All government services related to land rights’ issues and capacity building exercises around the same should be made in a gender-sensitive way and in an easily accessible format.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/its-my-land/article4187452.ece

Spreading the message

Since its inception in 1984, The Hunger Project in India has become active in eight states. Beginning this week, a ‘16 days of activism’ in support of the One Billion Rising campaign (OBR), which centers around Violence Against Women. In collaboration with 30 voluntary organisations and spread across seven States – Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand -- the programme aims at urging respective state governments to prevent and respond to violence against women at all levels.

With the 73rd Amendment Act mandating one-third of panchayat seats to women, more than one billion women occupy seats of power. This programme seeks to garner responses from empowered women representatives (EWRs) across the spectrum in the seven States along with multi-stakeholder groups like media, civil society and government to make the OBR campaign a success.

In Uttarakhand, padyatras, mobile van campaigns and street plays shall be undertaken in districts like Pithoragarh, Almora and Nainital. In Bihar, around 100 film screenings await districts like Nalanda, Rohtas and Madhubani. A candle light march on December 10 to celebrate the International Human Rights day in Patna, followed by a gathering on December 11 is also in the offing. In Madhya Pradesh, a series of meetings and discussions shall be undertaken. In Odisha, a radio jingle to end violence against women has been developed to be broadcasted during the campaign. In Tamil Nadu there are plans for forming a white ribbon cycle by EWRs in Erode and Tirupur. Karnataka and Rajasthan seek to address issues of child marriage and sex-selective abortion throughout the campaign days through street play theatres and mobile vans.

One Billion Rising campaign is a global strike to take place on February 14th 2013 that aims to sensitise men and women across the globe on violence against women across countries and cultures.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/spreading-the-message/article4113547.ece