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Research Question Option 1​:​ ​How has gender segregation and reservation of seats for women

in the Delhi Metro (DMRC) affected how comfortable they feel and how visible they are in public
spaces in Delhi?

Research Question Option 2​:​ ​How has gender segregation and reservation of seats for women
in the Delhi Metro (DMRC) affected how much access they feel they have to public spaces in
Delhi?

Context: ​The design and planning of an urban city is not something that is incidental, or
arbitrary. The way cities are planned often reflects the community whose needs were taken into
account while planning them. In New Delhi, India’s capital the absence of women in the public
space is something that is difficult to ignore. In 2010, DMRC decided to reserve an exclusive
coach for women and children up to 12 years of age, accompanied by women passengers. This
was in response to an increased number of women using the metro and many more reports of
sexual harassment cases in the general compartment. While the provision of this compartment
was seen as a great policy measure by some, to make the city more accessible for women there
has also been a lot of critique regarding the outcome of such a gendering of spaces and the
implications of such a policy outside the women’s compartment.

In 2012, the gruesome gang rape of a twenty three year old girl, Nirbhaya brought thousands of
people to the streets to force the government to engage in discourse about women’s right to
public space in Delhi. Slogans like “Don’t tell your daughter not to go out, tell your son to behave
properly” and “The streets are ours too” were used by protesters to express their anger about
the horrific rape of this girl, but also about the larger, more systemic problem of gender
inequality and the failure of the government to ensure equal access and opportunities for
women to be a part of public spaces in Delhi without being harassed. ​The issue of women and
public transport is obviously also much larger than that of reservation of seats for women as it is
tied to issues of women’s physical mobility. Public transport is in particular important for women
as they use it more than any other mode of transport. Using this context, I would like to use
primary research and secondary texts to study how gender segregation policies have influenced
the role of women in public spaces in other societies and the complications and inherent
paradoxes in the gender segregation policies that perpetuate the same gender inequalities
which they are trying to combat.

Broader relevance: ​Even though my paper will be anchored to the Delhi metro, and is examining
the question of gender segregation in this context the larger question that I am interested in
addressing is one of ownership of public spaces. Who has the right to be visible on the roads?
Is there a time limit as to when women have the right to be outside? In order to discuss these
larger questions I will be using mostly secondary research sources.
Methodology: ​ I will be conducting some interviews on the Yellow and Blue metro lines to
understand how reservations affect different lines located in various socio-economic geographic
regions. I will ask women about their experiences on these different lines, and whether having
access to this reserved coach has made them feel like they can be a part o

- a research question (even though it may be tentative at this stage)


- a brief context/description of the project
- also highlight why you're interested in this project, and what may be the broader relevance of
this research
- briefly talk about the methodology -- will it involve primary research (i.e. interviews, fieldwork,
etc.), or lit analysis, or mix, or whatever else
- a preliminary list of some sources (about 5-7 at this stage).

·​ P
​ injra Tod

What role does reservation and technology play in making public spaces more inclusive for
women of different classes?

How has gender segregation and reservation for women in the Delhi Metro affected the amount
of access women have to public spaces in Delhi?

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