Gender Contests in the Delhi Metro: Implications of Reservation of a Coach for Women

Abstract

This article argues that there is a need to address how policy measures, such as, gendered segregation of space in public transport, reconfigure gender relations in such spaces. On the basis of a small survey, personal observations and blogs published online, it is suggested that new areas of gendered confusions and exclusions in the use of the Delhi Metro are sharply emerging in response to reservation of a coach for women. These confusions and exclusions are giving rise to notions of legitimate and non-legitimate gendering of spaces, which allow men to make new claims on public space. Notions such as these derive from entrenched ideas about overcrowding and differential needs. Such contestations deny women an unambiguous right to the reserved space and also undermine their capacity for negotiating for such rights. It is argued that these are emerging concerns that need to be addressed in a more proactive manner.