From: elee6eg@jane.uh.edu (S.SANJAY GOPAL)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Eve teasing and Safety of women
Date: 12 Jan 1993 15:22 CST
Organization: University of Houston
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: jane.uh.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <C0JuEA.Ax9@ireq.hydro.qc.ca>, srini@ireq-num.hydro.qc.ca (K.Srinivasan) writes...
>----------------------------
>Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 13:19:14 EST
>From: psriniva@discovery.rutgers.edu (Pramila Srinivasan)
>Message-Id: <9301081819.AA07018@discovery.rutgers.edu>
>To: srini@ireq-num.hydro.qc.ca
>Status: R
> 
>Subject* the length and breadth of eve-teasing
> 
>The objective of this posting is just to put things in perspective
>and express my evaluation of the gravity of the situation.
>It is NOT to:
>compare the situation with respect to Rome or Paris, or claim that
>this is as serious a problem as unemployment or illiteracy or women's
>safety in general.
> 
>I have been a school girl, college and working woman in Tamil Nadu
>and Karnataka for about 20 yrs and these comments are based on solely
>my own experiences:
>I think I choose to neglect verbal teasing because it is harmless
>and omnipresent (and sometimes humorous!).

	I guess it turns out to be harmless in some cases but
	isn't ET (!) capable of causing emotional  scars
	on an individual ?

>Eventually I realised that all girls faced with these problems usually
>learned a clever way of dodging men who walked towards them, because most
>likely they would put out their hands or move towards them. And so I  went
>on and that was fine. 
>This became a habit with most of us so it didnt hurt! Only thing it did
>was, reminded us from time to time that we are after all , women!
>As far as buses are concerned, I never took it seriously. Most of us
>learnt to live with some minor pushing and pulling. There was however
>one thing I wanted to speak against. In buses I would see girls pulling
>their half-sarees from all directions to protect themselves. I actually
>thought that these were bad school uniforms. A decent shirt and `divided
>skirt' (which cant be lifted) would have easily solved the problem.

	On a related note I am of opinion that ET is fostered by
	out school system - seperate schools for males and females.
	
	A completely coed educational system would greatly
	minimize ( if not eliminate ) ET.


>I have been emphasizing that these problems are all minor. There is a
>real existing problem, the safety of working women who have to go home
>late at night. As the country's economy grows we are bound to find more
>and more women working in pvt companies (where you cant leave by 5 pm
>sharp, and where transportation is not provided by the company).
> 
>I wouldn't want to describe the gory details of the experiences I have faced
>but it would suffice to tell that its sheer luck that I escaped
>any permanent damage.  Probably one solution would be to provide housing
>for all single women near to the company where they can sleep if it gets
>too late.

	This may not be such a feasible idea for women who have
	their families in the same city as their place of
	employment.

	Let me back up here just a moment: Does your categorization
	of single women mean unmarried women or those that
	have moved to the city (of employment) and live in a
	hostel or with roommates ?

	Your idea would work best for the latter case.
	But then again we have a global problem that all
	women face but the above solution seems restricted to
	a specific category of working women. The big ? is
	is it feasible ?
		

>Providing  company transportation might be feasible once the 
>number of women increases. Its certainly not fair, on the other hand to 
>let women go home early. 
> 
>If at all anything deserves immediate attention, it is this, and 
>the problem of eve-teasing to me, sounds minor in comparison.
> 
>Thanks for reading this far, 
> 
>Pramila Srinivasan
> 

	A real solution could be in educating kids (catch them
	young!) and "demystifying" the differences in sexes.
	The required results may not be immediately
	obtained but in the long run this, I think, is the
	best solution.

regards

sanjay gopal s.