Stop female harassment in public transport

by Lionel WIJESIRI

According to the latest reports, it seems Sri Lankan women face rampant sexual harassment in public transport. A research indicated that one in every four women is being subjected to harassment daily when using public transport.

Nilanka, 26, a stenographer, is a case in point. For her, going to workplace in a public transport inevitably means putting up with harassment. "Everyday I have to travel in a crowded bus. I find some of the people in public transport very immoral," she said.

Nilanka said that male passengers harassed her by pushing and pulling and sometimes even touching sensitive parts of her body.

She further said that she sees no meaning in complaining about such issues as there is hardly any remedy.

"Once I sought explanation from a man who misbehaved with me. However, other passengers humiliated me saying that I should own a vehicle if I want to travel comfortably," she said

Though serious, the issue of sexual harassment in our public transportation system remains overlooked. Neither the victims nor the responsible bodies bring out this issue.

Legal protection

Sri Lanka's Law has adequate provision for the protection of women from various forms of sexual harassment prevalent in the society. However, according to police sources very few complaints come to the police station. "They just raise the issue unofficially. When we ask about written application, they don't come back," an officer said.

Nilanka says that using public transport is still a nightmarish experience for her due to lack of adequate security measures and general social insensitivity. There is a full-fledged wing in Police, to look after the interests of the fairer sex, and the department spends significant funds on advertisement campaigns to create awareness on the issue of sexual harassment of women. But the ground reality staring thousands of women using public transport day in and day out remains much the same: sexual harassment by men who seem to consider women as objects.

Another woman, requesting anonymity, concedes that it is not feasible for the government to ensure the safety of each and every female passenger all the time.

However, it may be a good idea to deploy at least one police officer, if not a pair of policeman and policewoman, clad in civvies in buses and bus-stops at random, especially after dark. Give lot of media publicity about the people who are caught unawares. This would act as a deterrent against sexual harassment of hapless women who have no choice but to use public transport to commute.

Task force

A cross-section of educated office-going women feels that a special law on "sexual harassment in public transport" along the lines of the guidelines on "sexual harassment at workplace", might be one way of addressing the issue.

Sexual harassment on public transportation is a problem in many other big cities. Japan is handling it by creating women-only subway trains and buses. In many cities in the US subway ad campaigns are launched to address the rampant sexual harassment problem on subways. There are Subway Task forces working to increase the visibility of the ads, add a phone number to the ads that people can use to report the crime, and encourage better sexual harassment training for police officers and subway personnel.

There are definite cultural, social and economic factors responsible for this behaviour and continued repression. But above all, it is imperative that women themselves assert their rights, fight collectively, awaken other who bear their humiliation in silence and find new ways of defending their rights. More and more women, both individually and in a collective manner, should come forward to register their complaints with the relevant authorities or informing the public through the Press.