Know your place: "Female" spaces - isolation or freedom?
"Female" space has become almost commonplace. Today, the gender zone can be found almost everywhere: women's cars appeared even in the subway, and not only in long-distance trains, you can choose a women's parking lot and even a women's bank. The main claim of the opponents is that such isolation is sexism: women require free access to men's events and men's zones, but expose strict face control at the entrance to the women's club.
And yet it is pointless to deny that cities still remain unsafe for women: any of them, regardless of appearance, time of day or "well-being" of the area, may become a victim of violence. Moreover, women's spaces have become a peculiar answer historically masculine. Male communities have been closed for centuries, providing participants with privileges. So, the women's spaces were initially endowed the visitors with a symbolic right to vote.
There is no consensus on whether specialized women's spaces are needed today. Is this a new degree of freedom or artificial isolation? Do they really help women feel more protected - or, conversely, drive them into even narrower frames, implying that it is not safe for women to be somewhere other than specially designated spaces? Does the safe zone signal that the rules do not apply outside its boundaries, which means it turns into a gender ghetto? We remembered several "female" spaces in different countries and tried to sort out this issue.
Safe transportation
Women's zones in transport are more common than anywhere else: according to the plan of the organizers, they increase the safety of women in the city. For example, UN-Women has several programs operating in different countries. In Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, where 90% of women experience violence or harassment in transportation, three bus flights were launched, which only women and children can use. There are also several female bus routes in Mexico City. In England, the UAE, Egypt, Australia and other countries, there are women's taxis. Often there are also special subway cars, reserved for women - there are such, for example, in Iran (albeit, it is not necessary to use them), the United Arab Emirates (they walk during peak hours) or India.
Opponents of these measures believe that the authors are struggling with the investigation, but not with the cause of the problem: it is necessary that any transport be safe and women can use it without fear of the threat of violence. The isolation transfers responsibility for the violence to the victim: it must be in a special space if it wants to protect itself, and if it is beyond its borders, there are supposed to be different rules and security is not guaranteed. In addition, women do not always have the opportunity to use special transport: for example, according to the Delhi Metro, women make up a quarter of all subway passengers, but only one of the eight cars is “female” - that is, women still have to use common cars.
Supporters of "female" transport believe that this is not the ideal, but effective measure in the already existing system: it gives women the opportunity to use public spaces and freely move around the city.
Parking
A few years ago, the media were actively discussing "female" parking in Seoul: parking spaces for women are marked up with pink paint and female figurines-symbols. In South Korea, this initiative has been operating since 2009, but this is not the only such project - there are some similar ones, for example, in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Most often, women's parking spaces tend to be more secure: they are located closer to the exits, are better lit, and all that happens to them is recorded by surveillance cameras. The only exception is China: the parking spaces for women here have been made wider, since women allegedly drive worse than men (parking spaces for men are narrower than usual, such are also found in Germany). This decision, of course, caused an ambiguous reaction.
There is also a lot of controversy about whether “female” parking lots are needed in principle. For example, in Germany, they were organized back in the nineties at the request of the women themselves, who were afraid to become victims of sexual violence. Twenty years later, their need raises questions: the parking lots of shopping centers have become much more illuminated and safe - and it is obvious that all people want to use the comfortable parking spaces, regardless of gender.
Beaches
Most often, separate swimming areas and beaches for women are organized in Muslim countries - but not only. For example, in Australia there are the Baths of McIvera, a beach area with a swimming pool with sea water, access to which is open only to women and children. Women used the baths since 1876, the pool at this place was built ten years later. This is the last such bathing area in the country: the rest were banned by the anti-discrimination law of the state of New South Wales in 1995, and it was the only exception. Visitors to the baths say they like how calm the area is.
In 2014, the Sarisu beach in Antalya was made female. Many have criticized this decision: the opponents of separation believe that it is connected not with the desire to help women, but with the aim of isolating them from men under the pretext of protection against violence. Supporters of the women's beach believe that it will help Muslim women feel more comfortable: many women who wear the hijab do not bathe on the common beaches, and in a separate area they can do it calmly and even wear a swimsuit instead of burkini.
Bank branches
Branches of banks, employees and clients of which were exclusively women, appeared in Saudi Arabia in the nineties. Nesrin Malik, a journalist from Sudan, who lives in London, recalls that, on the one hand, they often worked worse than men’s — their main task was to issue cash. On the other - they were free from harassment and harassment zone, unlike conventional banks, and also gave women the opportunity to manage their own finances without the intervention of a guardian - father or brother.
In Iran, the women's branch of the bank appeared in 2010. It is intended primarily for women from conservative families - for example, those who are uncomfortable to interact with men who are not their relatives. Women's branches of banks are also organized in other countries — for example, in Italy, Bulgaria, and Mexico — but most often this is just a sexist advertising move. For example, in the Bulgarian branch of UniCredit, women were offered special "women's" programs, such as credit for plastic surgery.
Training rooms
For ninety years, the University of Michigan had a training room for women: it was founded in 1925 and for several decades was a "safe haven for reflection, study, and loneliness." The situation changed last year: Mark Perry, a teacher of economics, appealed to the university administration with a complaint - in his opinion, the women's school building violated a federal law prohibiting gender-based discrimination. The administration ignored the complaint, and then Perry filed a complaint with the state civil rights department - after which the administration made the classroom common (according to a university representative, these changes were planned a long time ago). According to Perry, since there are more women than men among students and, according to a study, men are more likely to commit suicide, college students need more protection than female students.
University student Alyssa Mathuren launched a petition demanding to leave the training room for women - but despite the fact that it was signed by more than five thousand people, the administration did not cancel the decision. Female students believe that women need a safe place to study: according to statistics, every fourth student at the University of Michigan faces violence.
Festival areas
Last year, at the Glastonbury music festival, the organizers arranged a special female zone, The Sisterhood - she was trans-inclusive, and access was open to anyone who identifies herself as a woman. According to the organizers of the zone, "women's spaces are necessary, since the world is still ruled by men and it is designed in such a way that they, too, mainly benefit". At music festivals, women are often victims of harassment - a special area should provide them with a safe space.
This is not the only such initiative: from 1976 to 2015, the Michigan annual festival of female music was held in the United States, which was organized and attended exclusively by women. In recent years, the event has been criticized for trans-exclusivity: access to it was open only to cis-gender women.
There are no less complaints about women’s music festivals than other events - after the announcement of The Sisterhood, a flurry of criticism fell on the organizers. “Hey, jump on the train of marginalization,” St. Vincent said of the British women's music festival Lilith Fair, held in the nineties and revived in 2010. “It was intended for white people who wanted to see indigo girls. He also reinforced the stereotype that women's music is necessarily acoustic, sincere, sentimental and cannot be harsh and sharp. "
Opponents of such gender events say that it is much more important not to organize special zones, but to fight for more women musicians to take part in mainstream festivals. Their supporters believe that one does not contradict the other at all.
Photo: eyewave - stock.adobe.com, Wikipedia (1, 2)
