Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Barring male tailors from taking measures of females and restricting men from training women in gyms and Yoga centres are among some of the recommendations the Uttar Pradesh State Women Commission are considering to make to the government to improve women’s safety in the state.
The commission has also suggested placing female security personnel on school buses and hiring female staff in women’s clothing stores to enhance women’s security in public and commercial spaces.
The measures to enhance women’s safety were discussed in a meeting held on October 28 in Lucknow where commission members explored various initiatives aimed at improving security for women. “The discussions are preliminary. Feasibility of these proposals is yet to be decided. Once approved, these proposals will be submitted to the government to draft a policy for ground-level implementation,” Maneesha Ahlawat, a member of the commission has said.
But the Shamli district probation officer Hamid Hussain has already started taking steps in this direction. He has directed the local establishments to begin adopting new safety guidelines which include appointing female trainers or teachers in women’s gyms, drama, and yoga centres as well as installing CCTV systems with DVR capabilities for monitoring.
Mr Hussain said the school buses would now need to have a female security guard or teacher, and boutiques must hire female tailors for measuring women with CCTV camera surveillance in place. The coaching centres in Shamli are also now required to have CCTV camera surveillance and proper restroom facilities for women. Stores selling women’s clothing have been told to employ female staff for assistance.
In the face of the controversy over the recommendations, the commission chairperson Babita Chauhan said the recommendations were made to ensure women feel safe and would also help in more women getting employment. “Take gyms, for instance, 99% or even 100% of trainers are men and 50% of people who go there are women. So, I believe it will be good to have women trainers. When we conduct hearings, many cases come to us that are linked to the proposal,” Ms Chauhan said.
The proposal, which is intended to prevent “bad touch” and curb the “ill intentions” of men, also covers men not cutting women’s hair and having female trainers in yoga centres as well as women teachers or security guards in school buses.
The commission said it has sent letters on the guidelines to all district magistrates in Uttar Pradesh. “The cases concern beauty parlours, gyms, boutiques where women’s clothes are tailored and coaching centres. I don’t know why these issues were not discussed. When we talk of crime and women’s safety, when the government is so aware and is making women aware, we have to speak up in the interest of women,” Ms Chauhan said.
She added, “If gyms have women trainers, girls and women will feel safe and more women will also get employment.” Himani Agarwal, a member of the commission said the proposal was floated by Ms Chauhan on October 28 and accepted by the panel. Ms Agarwal said the involvement of men in such professions can lead to women getting molested. “They (men) try to indulge in bad touch. The intention of some men is also not good,” she said, adding, “not that all men have bad intentions.”
Samajwadi Party’s Machhlishahr MLA Ragini Sonkar said the choice should be left to individuals. “I don’t think this is a justified decision as it should be an individual choice whether one prefers a male or a female to attend to them. It is a matter of choice. We are okay with the proposal about women’s presence being mandatory at shops selling women’s garments and in tailoring shops. But then, ultimately, it boils down to individual choice and this can’t be limited to a particular sex,” she said.