A Question of SPACE

SEVERAL INNOVATIVE PROJECTS ACROSS INDIA ARE MAPPING THE GENDERED EXPLORATIONS OF WOMEN TRAVELLERS, THEIR TALES, AND HOW THEY NAVIGATE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WORLD

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THE THEME FOR INTERNATIONAL Women's Day 2024 is "Inspire Inclusion." The campaign aims to forge a more inclusive world for women collectively because while some battles for gender equality have been won, many remain. One of the starkest differences is how men can navigate and explore the world-their experience differs significantly from a woman's. While urban women can travel actively, worries about their safety, convenience, and appearance prevent them from freely exploring, cycling, and walking the way men can.

ARE WE THERE YET?

And it is not just the safety aspects; there are many layers to the idea of women exploring spaces. Just walk around any city or town, and you will see that few memorialise women, in the naming of public spaces like streets, in the many statues scattered around," says Koel Pandey, an advertising professional based in Kolkata. "Women have been overlooked and completely underrepresented in the naming of places. Naming places and streets after significant persons is a way to show the social rank and hierarchy in our lives and spaces." This glaring discrepancy is reflected in the studies done by various global organisations.

The European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet), a network of media organisations from Europe producing data-driven coverage of issues, studied 1,45,933 streets in 30 major European cities. The findings of the study were startling. On average, 91 percent of streets are named after men. Even in Stockholm, which has the smallest gender gap, streets named after men still account for more than 80 percent.